Volunteers Needed!!

Go Volunteer!

We’re 22 days away from the craziest rodeo a pirate has ever witnessed. I know we’re all equal parts excited and stressed: excited for the adventure and community that awaits us, and stressed as we hot glue the final googly eye to the labor of love art piece we’ve been working on for months, add that last song to the final playlist, and take the last sample from the gallons of apple pie mead we’ve made.

But here’s the thing – this isn’t a music festival that you buy a ticket for and then show up and enjoy what the musicians have made for you. This isn’t an art show where you walk in, have a beer, and open your heart to an emotional outpouring embodied in a sculpture of a creature that is half capybara, half mermaid, and 100% the love of your life. This isn’t a performance piece at your local community theater where you laugh and cry so hard that you throw an extra $20 in the tip jar on the way out. 

You don’t just spectate here, that’s not how this works.

We need volunteers or this thing doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. And our volunteer shift schedule is looking quite BARE in a few places.

Sanctuary, the helpful listeners and keepers of quiet spaces… have no one scheduled during any of the evenings.

Zone Guides, the fine folks that help everyone figure out where they are going… on a very busy day for them, Friday, there is only ONE person scheduled from 4 to 8, and no one covering from 8 until the gate closes. And when I say no one, I mean there isn’t even a Shift Supervisor.

Rangers, the friendly do-gooders of the event ready to sort out any situation… on Friday night, from 4pm until midnight there is only ONE Ranger scheduled and for more than half of that, there is no Khaki/Supervisor either.  From midnight until noon the next day, there are NO Rangers. Saturday during the effigy burn we have 3 Rangers, but no Khaki. Sunday during the temple burn we have ONE Ranger and no Khaki.

MEATS, our dedicated medical team… for most shifts there’s at least one person signed up, but, in many cases, that’s all there is: ONE person. During the effigy burn there’s only one. During the temple burn there are none. 

The list goes on and on. We need volunteers! 

For those of you who have been to so many burn events you’ve lost count… you know how critical volunteering is. You know these events don’t happen without community involvement. You don’t even need to read this because you’re either already signed up (THANK YOU!) or you’re planning on doing it and have just been so busy with the googly eyes. I get it. But we’re all busy. So take 5 minutes, go put your name on the list somewhere, and then we can all stop worrying about it.

For the rest of you, we need your help. Even if you’re the “I don’t need anyone on any shift to support anything” type person, we still need your help. Without volunteers the event doesn’t happen. If the shifts are all empty this year, that helps indicate how many tickets we can make available next year. With fewer tickets, there are, naturally, fewer volunteers and, well… it doesn’t take a math wizard to see that this means we eventually have 0 tickets and no event.

I’m literally begging you right now… VOLUNTEER, please!
Go sign up and Volunteer!
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–Tripod
Batcave AF