With this year’s Harvest Festival in the rear-view for Knox, Mayor Rick Chambers said they are looking for an organization to take the reins for next year. He passed out a financial report for this year’s festival, which turned a profit of only $441.93 – but it’s better than nothing. Chambers explained that in the past the festival has made more than $7000, as the Friends of the Park organization claimed they did in 2007.
Chambers said a number of organizations have taken the helm in the past, including Michelle Bachtel who organized a group of volunteers for this year’s festival, the Chamber of Commerce, and Mark and Lori Smith. For next year, however, Chambers said he has not yet found an organization or volunteer to manage it.
“This year, I asked for volunteers and Michelle Bachtel stepped up, and she took the head, and she had a group of volunteers that helped her and she was able to delegate and get some assistance. So that’s pretty much what it takes: just a group of people. It’s too much for one person to manage. It takes a group of people, an organization, to pull that off,” Chambers explained.
The event’s coordinator will be responsible for putting together events, contacting vendors, lining up entertainment like live bands, getting dumpsters in town, and gathering volunteers to pick up trash, set up and tear down booths, manage the parade, and a variety of other tasks.
Chambers said he learned only recently that Bachtel would be unable to coordinate the event next year because of other commitments, so he is now on the hunt for an organization to step up to the plate. Anyone interested in coordinating the festival should contact the mayor’s office at (574) 772-4553.
