The 2018 Mt. Vernon Apple Butter Makin’ Days are coming up on October 12th through October 14th.
They need 35 to 40 volunteers to help keep things running smoothly for all the participants and visitors. Last year it was estimated that 100,000 people came sometime during the 3-day event.
The two activities needing the most help with are: 1) the Parade on Saturday, October 13th, and 2) Help with monitoring the Handicapped Parking areas Friday – Sunday (October 12th – 14th).
1) The Parade on Saturday: Before the Parade starts, they need people to help Parade Entrants find their correct staging location. Organizers will provide maps showing where the different groups/entrants are supposed to be located. Volunteers are assigned to specific street corners where they will answer questions and direct parade participants to their proper location. This will involve standing/walking from 6:30 AM until about 11:00 AM the morning of the parade. You can bring a chair if you would like. For any non-hams, small handheld license-free (FRS) radios will be provided to assist volunteers with communications. Ham radio operators are greatly appreciated and requested to bring their own HT’s for use on a 2 meter frequency.
2) Handicapped Parking (HP) Areas: This position involves checking to see that people wanting to park in the HP area have an actual Handicapped license plate or mirror tag. If they don’t, then volunteers will need to redirect them to the free parking i) on the street, ii) at the Baptist church, iii) at Silgan’s, iv) or at the Spirit of ’76 Park. There will be four different areas to watch over each day Friday through Sunday. Shifts run from 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM and from 11:30 AM to 4:30 PM. You can bring a chair to sit in if you would like.
If you have a ham radio license, they would especially like to encourage you to help with the Parade on Saturday. They’ll be using a 2 meter simplex frequency with Net Control located in the middle of the Parade Staging area. Most of our Hams are placed around the periphery of the Staging area. This allows us to answer people’s questions before they get into the staging area and can’t get easily out again. Net Control will know all the answers or can contact someone else who does. If you are new to ham radio, this is a great opportunity to get involved in a practical application that uses radio communications.
If you have any questions or would like to help us, please contact:
Kendel Klein, W0KLK
Phone: 608-618-1955 (This is a Google Voice number, so leave a message and he’ll call you back)
or Email: ABMD.Volunteer@gmail.com
More information about Mount Vernon Apple Butter Makin’ Days can be found here.