There are only 18 days to go before St. Albert embarks on setting a city-wide record for attendance at a picnic. But picnics don’t put themselves on, so 150th anniversary celebration organizers are asking St. Albertans to sign up as volunteers to make sure that the fun adventure in food, entertainment and mass assemblage runs smoothly.
The Rendezvous Picnic is all set for Sunday, Aug. 28. Everyone is invited to pack a lunch and bring a blanket and participate in the group gathering across nine kilometres of park area that will feature 10 different sites of entertainment, education, culture and spectacle the likes of which the city has never seen.
Cheryl Mackenzie, the event manager, is really geared up despite the current shortfall. She said that the whole picnic needs 300 volunteers, but only half that number have signed up so far.
“From an event perspective, it looks really great!” she stated. “Now, we’re just looking for the ‘day of’ volunteers to help do setup and to make sure things run. Basically, the majority of our volunteers will be known as goodwill ambassadors.”
She explained that these ambassadors will be working to help the general public to get the most enjoyment out of the day. This means that they will answer questions about the picnic and direct people to different sites and to make sure that people have all of the information about the program that they need.
She added that she knows people will step up to fill in all the holes, especially when you consider that they are mostly light-duty jobs.
“There’s a few positions of backbreaking setup that we need to fill,” she joked. “The big majority of these positions … will be greeters.”
This event is just one of the many activities taking place throughout the year in conjunction with St. Albert’s 150th anniversary celebration.
The record-setting Rendezvous Picnic is set to take place along the Sturgeon River valley. It kicks off with the opening ceremonies at 11:30 a.m. on St. Anne Street in front of St. Albert Place. There will be celebration cupcakes handed out to the first 1,000 people.
To find out more, call the Rendezvous 2011 office at 780-458-4630 or visit www.rendezvous2011.ca. You can also go to the website to download an event volunteer application form or fill it out online. Just look under the ‘Get Involved’ tab.
A map and description of the picnic’s activities is also available on the website.
