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It seems legit enough but I was wondering, has anyone here volunteered any festys through this program?
Also, does anyone know any other organizations or anything that you can volunteer for? Just trying to come up with a few ideas and could use some help! Thanks!!!
If Bonnaroo uses WET this year it will be the second year. 2009 was the last year that Bonnaroo used their own volunteer team. That year it was a total cluster fuck. For some reason the website accepted almost twice as many During Festival Volunteers as they needed. So what happened was on the Sunday before the festival started there were about 200 people on the site doing set up. Then on the Tuesday before the festival the during fest volunteers were supposed to show up to check in and collect their creds. and their t-shirts. I was there for the check in and we ran out of cred. and t-shirts when there were still at least 500 people still in line. All of them without a place to sleep because the were counting on sleeping on site. So we had to turn away all of these people and tell them to come back in the morning. Unfortunately there were no hotels in the area that were vacant, and some of the people that had been standing in the check in line for hours were a little drunk and yelling at the people that had no authority over the situation. It was a big mess and in the end they had to extend the Volunteer camp by almost twice the size. Also a lot of the people that were signed up for volunteers never actually had to work a shift. Which meant there were hundreds of people that went to Bonnaroo 09 for free. And they got to stay on site for an extra day.
So the next year which was 10 they decided to use WET. From what I know it went on without a hitch. I might be wrong. But WET is a very legit company that heads up the volunteering for most of the major festivals in the US.
Post by SouthGA_Festival Machine on Jan 13, 2011 0:20:49 GMT -5
That would be me. I've volunteered with WET about seven times, I think, but not at Bonnaroo. I volunteered at the last two Bonnaroos. In 2009 it was just through Bonnaroo itself. This was before WET took over volunteer operations, which they did last year. Then last year, I volunteered with Clean Vibes.
In all my times working with WET, I've had nothing but good experiences. Last year, there were some complaints on here from people who volunteered with WET at Bonnaroo, but I think a lot of the problems were because they needed more time to work everything out. I can tell you there were things to complain about the year before when the fest handled things themselves too.
In 2009 we were told to show up before midnight on Tuesday to check in. But when I got there around 9 pm, I was turned away and had to sleep in my truck at Walmart, because they ran out of wristbands, supposedly because a computer error caused them to take in too many volunteers. But because of that, after spending about 6 hours in line the next day to check in, I only got one 12 hour shift directing traffic at the high school for VIP check in, instead of the 3 6 hr. shifts I was expecting, so that worked out well for me. I was thru with everything by Thursday night in time to see several shows that night.
I would recommend working with either WET or Clean Vibes. I worked Clean Vibes last year post-fest. I was mailed a ticket and came in with a group of friends like everybody else. Then on Monday, I had to move my camp to the volunteer campground and worked Tuesday through the following Monday. The first two days were for the ticket. After that, we were paid every day for each 10 hour shift. The first two days, we were paid $9/hr or $90, the next five days, it was $10/hr or $100/day. As time goes on, there are fewer people working. It's hot tiring work, but not too bad if you're in reasonable shape. I also worked Clean Vibes at All Good last year. There we worked four days, two of which were paid.
I will always work with WET when I can, except when I have a choice of them or Clean Vibes. But with a choice, and no permanent job, I'll go with Clean Vibes.
If there's anything specific you'd like to know, PM me or for a faster response, look me up on Facebook. I spend more time there now than here, although I plan to be on here more often soon, as the line up gets closer.
I will have to apologize if you came up to the front of the line any time after 10 pm. I was the short girl with red hair that was 6 months pregnant. I felt so bad turning people away.
If it makes you feel any better I was there talking to people until after 2 am. My voice was GONE. Then I had to take the bus back to the drop off by myself and then walk to the VOL camp by myself at like 3 AM. And I was pretty pregnant. I was the last volunteer that stayed that night. I was there for like 18 hours. Just as long as all of the paid workers. It was hard.
Did I mention I was pregnant and sleeping in a tent for 3 days already.
Again I'm sorry for all of the people I had to turn away.
On the plus side... I really like working for event production again. On the negative... I wasn't getting paid like i used to be. But it was still a fun experience.
Post by SouthGA_Festival Machine on Jan 13, 2011 0:58:34 GMT -5
Yes, with Clean Vibes we were fed every day. I think the first couple of days, We had boxed meals with choice of regular, vegetarian, or vegan for breakfast, and lunch in the catering tent, with dinner on our own.
After that, I believe it went to 3 catered meals a day. Then at the end, catering shut down because there weren't many people left and they gave us boxed breakfast and lunch again, and an extra $10 cash meal money. We had showers available, but not til we'd been working several days, that I was aware of anyway. I think my first shower came on my 8th day in Manchester, I got into town on Wednesday night before the fest, so around Wednesday night. :-P
The last two nights, those of us who were left were put up in the Microtel. And one night, we all got fed at a mexican restaurant, with drinks, which was nice. And there is always plenty of cold bottled water available while you're working, and you get snacks during breaks.
Post by julieagulia on Jan 13, 2011 1:25:01 GMT -5
Wow that sounds absolutly great. I didn't expect that at all!
So I guess you work to pay off the ticket, once youve worked enough to pay the ticket off you can either leave or stay and keep cleaning and get paid just to clean from that point on? Sorry, me gets confused easily. Just want to make sure I'm understanding right
And again thanks for all your help with this! I am very excited now!
Wow that sounds absolutly great. I didn't expect that at all!
So I guess you work to pay off the ticket, once youve worked enough to pay the ticket off you can either leave or stay and keep cleaning and get paid just to clean from that point on? Sorry, me gets confused easily. Just want to make sure I'm understanding right
And again thanks for all your help with this! I am very excited now!
Right, you work two days to pay off the ticket. At the end of the 2nd day, they will ask if you want to stay and get paid, as long as you've done a good job up til that point. They will take around 50 or 60 people who want to stay. I think they ask if you wanna work two more days at first, then it's day-to-day after that. So you can stay as long as there's work, as long as too many don't wanna stay. I staid til the end, 7 days of work counting the two for my ticket, and 5 paid. After that, only paid employees staid to finish up.
It's not a bad deal as long as you don't mind working. But it is a little tedious. When you start out, you do what they call "consolidating". We line up and walk straight thru the campgrounds, picking up trash and recycling bags and putting them in big piles for the compactor and recycling trucks to pick up. After that, you do what they call "sweeping", picking up every piece of trash, including every cigarette butt, and there will be a LOT of cigarette butts.
You'll have disposable gloves and two trash bags, one for regular trash, and one for recycling, including glass, cans, and plastic. There will also be a lot of full beers and other items of value, which you can keep. The beer comes in handy at camp every night.
Be sure to have sunscreen with you, and spare shoes. My biggest problem was only having one pair of suitable work shoes, which got wet in the two storms we had. My feet were in very bad shape by the time it was all over. This year, I'll have several pairs of tennis shoes with me, because I really don't wanna go thru that again. :-D
If you stay til the end, you will see every part of the farm, including Super VIP Camping. I even got to go inside The Arch one day.
Post by SouthGA_Festival Machine on Jan 13, 2011 11:28:26 GMT -5
That's right, PMA. If you could also work pre-fest or during the fest, doing trash sweeps in the stage areas jin the mornings, or as a "Trash Talker", telling people where to put different items (trash, recycling, compost). The "plastic" utensils are actually made of corn and are compost-able.
I'd also recommend looking into volunteer opportunities with WET. One advantage of working with them is that you get to come in Tuesday or Wednesday, or earlier if you're working pre-fest. So you can avoid all the traffic and waiting in line. I came in Wednesday in '09 when I volunteered through Bonnaroo, which is handled by WET now. But last year, doing post-fest Clean Vibes, I came in with a group of friends and was stuck in traffic for 8 hours. I'm gonna try to figure out a way around that this year though. ;-)
Dale, I thought your approach was to sign up as a volunteer and not show up for any shifts, then hope like hell you are invited back the following year??
On a side note, Dale TV is about to go high def. at a festival near you.
edit: Found the quote, straight from the Dale - "Now see you wouldn't have to worry about that if you just do like I did and sign up to volunteer, and don't show up for any of your shifts. It's worked for me so far; I don't know if I'll get invited back next year though."
Post by SouthGA_Festival Machine on Jan 13, 2011 18:34:23 GMT -5
See, this is why I'm gonna have to ban pens and paper from camp from now on. This will not work at Bonnaroo or All Good. Let's not mention what fest it refers to OK. ;-) And for the record, I put in extra hours to compensate. :-)
Yeah I'm planning on hitting up hangout, summercamp, Waka, and Roo in a big month long loop so getting in free and havin a place to camp is a win win. And if rothbury is a go then I'll be doing whatever i can to get up there.
Yeah I'm planning on hitting up hangout, summercamp, Waka, and Roo in a big month long loop so getting in free and havin a place to camp is a win win. And if rothbury is a go then I'll be doing whatever i can to get up there.
I'm hoping be at The Hangout, Waka, Roo, All Good, maybe Rothbury, and a few more this year. So maybe I'll see you out there.
