NEWBURYPORT — Two Yankee Homecoming tentpoles, Olde Fashioned Sunday and the festival’s closing parade, could be cancelled if organizers aren’t able to secure enough volunteers in the near future, according to board president Jennifer LaCroix.
“Those two events need the most volunteers,” LaCroix said. “So, if something has to go away, it makes sense that it would be one or both of those.”
This year, the 67th-annual celebration of the city will run from Saturday, July 26 to Sunday, Aug. 3. It will include a host of activities, including day and night concerts on the downtown waterfront all week, a waiter/waitress race on Liberty Street on July 28, a bed race down Federal Street on July 31, as well as the annual fireworks display on Aug. 2.
Typically the festivities are run by a cadre of roughly 175 volunteers.
But in an email sent last Wednesday to past helpers, LaCroix said her nonprofit organization has seen very few volunteers sign up.
On Friday, she told Daily News about 60 people are ready to go.
“That’s about a third of the volunteers we need right now, so we need everybody’s help,” she said. “We really want to encourage people to step in and help out, where they can.”
If they can’t get more volunteers to sign up by the end of the month, LaCroix added she and fellow organizers are eying Olde Fashioned Sunday on July 27, at the Bartlet Mall, and the Aug. 3 parade down High Street as potential cuts.
“We do have volunteers who will double and triple up on events. But I would say we’d be cutting things very short at 150 volunteers,” she said. “Last year, we were definitely short on volunteers but we had all of our events. It was a long week for the few of us who were trying to attend every, single event though. So we really need to be at 150 at the very minimum.”
Yankee Homecoming has seen roughly 20 people sign on to volunteer or ask for more information since LaCroix said she sent her email last week.
“We love their help and eagerness in making sure our events run smoothly,” she said. “We just need more help than that, in order to have safe events people can attend.”
The Yankee Homecoming board, LaCroix added, will also be taking a close look at all of its events.
“If we cancel something different, maybe we can shift volunteers around,” she said. “But I’m really hoping that we get enough volunteers that we feel confident we can have all of our events running.”
LaCroix’s husband, Jason LaCroix currently serves as vice president of the Yankee Homecoming board. He said he would be sending another email blast out over the weekend, while the call for volunteers has also gone out on social media.
“We don’t know if people think there’s too much work involved or they think they’re not qualified,” he said. “The answer to that is no. We have dozens of volunteer opportunities ranging from 15 minutes to two hours to planning, year round. We run the gamut. So we will sit down with you and find a place that fits.”
Another challenge facing the festival this year, he added are local families who are headed for vacation that week.
“We have a couple of event chairs who will be away and they really volunteer with their whole family,” Jason LaCroix said. “So, we’re not just losing one person, we’re losing about 12 with their extended family.”
The easiest way for people to volunteer, Jennifer LaCroix said is to go to the Yankee Homecoming website.
“Just hit the volunteer button,” she said.
People will also be able to volunteer for as many hours as they can handle.
“It’s as big or little as you want to make it,” Jennifer LaCroix said. “There are a lot of volunteer positions that are only for a couple hours of the day of the event.”
Visit the Yankee Homecoming website at yankeehomecoming.com/.