Arts Fest volunteers are loyal, longtime family

If you ask a volunteer at the Utah Arts Festival about volunteering at the event, they will probably mention their "family." They are not referring to immediate relatives but the hundreds of volunteers who come back to the festival, year after year, to build stages, pour drinks or sit at booths.

"It's like a little family reunion," said UAF Volunteer Director Kaye Wankier. "We've had volunteers who have grown up with the festival and now they're still involved. This is a family down here and even though the family only gets together once a year, it's still a family."

Each year, anywhere from 800 to 1,000 volunteers will give their time to volunteer at the annual four-day festival, aimed at bringing art to the community. But volunteers are working long before and after the festival — it takes days for the countless booths, exhibitions and stages to be built and torn down.

"It's a huge job and I think very few people realize the infrastructure we put together to support us," said UAF Executive Director Robyn Nelson. "We kind of build and create a small city."

The diverse group includes volunteers from youth groups, national charity leagues, corporations, the Weber Basin Job Corps and individuals throughout Utah who work anywhere from three hours to numerous days making sure the festival runs smoothly.

"People are just so generous with their time," said Wankier, who has been volunteering with UAF since 1987 and noted numerous people have been volunteering as long as she has. "I'm blown away every year and they come and do it with a smile."

Sitting at an artist's booth is a favorite spot of many volunteers, assistant volunteer director Matt Jacobson said, because so many people want to be around the art.

"It is such a fun festival," he said. "Obviously I love it so much that I keep coming back."

His motto for volunteering? "Work hard. Play harder. And hopefully, you can catch some good live music."

Nelson, who has been volunteering with the festival for 18 years, said about 1,000 volunteers and medical, security and cleaning crews file in and out of the festival every day.

"We've got people who are coming to volunteer who are now bringing their kids to volunteer," she said. "It's gone generational."

Numerous mother and daughter teams volunteer together, as do groups of family members and friends.