Category: Volunteer

2018 Volunteer Spotlight – Sarah Pierce

By The Chicken

In the weeks leading up to Homegrown we are featuring some awesome Homegrown Music Festival volunteers! Did you know that Homegrown is run almost entirely by volunteers? Over 150 of them! We mean it when we say that our volunteers truly make this festival happen! 200 bands, 8 nights of local music and art. Our volunteers attend to the doors, manage vibe, deliver field guides, put wristbands on, swipe credit cards, manage crowds, coordinate flow, offer friendly greetings a…nd offer patient encouragement when lines are long or moving slow and SO MUCH MORE!!!

This week’s EXTRAORDINARY volunteer is Ms. Sarah Pierce!

Sarah has been a Homegrown volunteer for 4 years running – and I mean literally running – last year she and her team delivered 8 routes of field guides. If you picked up your field guide in Superior it likely had been set there by her amazing hands!

Field guide distribution is a great way to get your HGMF responsibilities out of the way before the festival even starts! Sarah says her friend Crystal got her into this and the first year it was mostly for the free weeklong pass but she has grown to really enjoy distro.

Pro Tip: “Don’t do it alone. Get a dolly (see pic). Know that if you tell them you are interested in 8 routes they may give them ALL to you” This year we have the routes spread a bit more evenly but we truly appreciate Sarah’s “get it done” attitude last year as we loaded more than 30 boxes of field guides into her car! A 2017 hero in my book!

Sarah’s favorite night of the festival is Canal Park Night, but you could practically hear the agony in her voice as she had to choose. She warns us all not to miss Jaw Knee Vee and Ingeborg von Agassiz.

Sarah loves when it rains meat and when she has more friends when the festival ends than she did when it began. So look for Sarah – make a new friend!

You can join the Homegrown volunteer family at this link: https://airtable.com/shrmkaP5uL89ijBNd

2018 Volunteer Spotlight – Liz Minette

By The Chicken

Its Monday – and that means its time for another Homegrown Music Festival Volunteer Spotlight! This week we are celebrating Liz Minette!

Elizabeth has been a proud part of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival volunteer squad since 2008! She first volunteered at Sir Ben’s when her coworker’s band, Uncle Kenny, was playing. Elizabeth volunteers because she loves Homegrown SO much and wanted a way to be a part of it all! She wants new volunteers to know to make the Field Guide your best friend! Whatever venue you are at be sure you can answer questions about what is going on all around town that night!

When we asked Elizabeth what her favorite night or venue of Homegrown is we thought she would eventually pick every night!
“Oh, favorite venue/night of the festival. . .well, I’m a performer for the Monday night Poetry Showcase, so that’s one of my favorite nights. Over the years Poetry Showcase has had to move to bigger venues – we started out at Teatro Zuccone, then the Underground, now Sacred Heart because, whether it’s second night of Homegrown, or just the fun of seeing and hearing what other poets have brought to read that particular night, Poetry Showcase is always packed. Monday night is always great because EVERYBODY is out and about having a great time! I also love Tuesday Canal Park night. I was Venue Manager at Vikre last year and we were at capacity at 7 pm and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the night and I was so dang proud! I loved volunteering for the shows at Norm’s for Soup Town Thursdays – I did that for about three years – those shows had the most awesome bands (Dad’s Acid, Charlie Parr, Jim Hall, A Winter Downpour) and people packed in to Norm’s and just had a great time. Wild! Fun! We were always, always busy during those shows and that was fun. I love the West Side Wednesdays too, love working the Clyde shows because it’s the anticipation before the doors open and then all of us volunteers work, I think, really well together to ensure concert attendees have a great time in a great space. I want to challenge myself though this year and work one of the smaller clubs Wednesday night because those venues seem so cool too and feature a lot of great music during Homegrown.”

This year Elizabeth is hoping that Trampled by Turtles make an appearance (dont we all!) but is also eager to take in ALL THE PUNK ROCK shows. WooHoo!

Thank you Elizabeth from the bottom of our hearts – we literally can’t have Homegrown without our army of volunteers!

Join the Homegrown Music Festival volunteer team by clicking this clink! https://airtable.com/shrmkaP5uL89ijBNd

2018 Volunteer Spotlight – Cheyenne Alisankus

By The Chicken

Today we introduce one of our Superior Night Superstars – Cheyenne Alisankus!

Cheyenne is a 4 time volunteer with the Homegrown Music Festival! Gimme a HIGH FOUR for Cheyenne! Cough up the extra finger and give our friend a HIGH FIVE when you see her out volunteering! “My favorite night of Homegrown is Soup Town Night, my favorite venue of Homegrown is The Thirsty Pagan – great pizza, great beer c’mon!” What else could you ask for!? Cheyenne made a special request to volunteer at the Pagan again this year and we are bending over backward to honor that request!

When asked why she volunteers for Homegrown she replied: “I’ve been volunteering for Homegrown since I moved to Duluth. There isn’t anything like Homegrown where I’m from, and it’s been a really fun way for me to be apart of the awesome music community Duluth/Superior has. (Plus, being able to get into the whole festival for free is a sweet bonus!)”

To join the homegrown volunteer team sign up at this link: https://airtable.com/shrmkaP5uL89ijBNd

2018 Volunteer Spotlight – Tim Gustafson

By The Chicken

This week we want to share a 5 year returning HMGF volunteer – Tim Gustafson!

Tim loves Homegrown shows at Clyde Iron Works and Pizza Luce – especially the spot volunteers get to stand at Pizza Luce where they can watch the bands while they work! What a great perk – I bet that barely feels like work at all!

Tim’s favorite homegrown moment is on opening night when our beloved former Mayor, Don Ness, would deliver a heartfelt speech, share the origin story of the festival, chronicle its growth into what it is today and then down a pint of Hempen Ale beer and declare the festival officially started!

Tim sees his role as a faithful HGMF volunteer as a way to see bands he wouldn’t likely see other wise – we all understand the appeal of comfy pants and Netflix on the couch – but if he has signed up to volunteer he will get out and about and finds one of those previously unknown bands becomes one of his new favorite bands!

Tim recommends a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage and his pro-tip for the week is “Don’t miss anything that includes Gabriel Douglas” Yessir Tim, we promise we won’t!

Thank you Tim for 5 amazing years of service to this festival. We appreciate you and all out volunteers very much!

To join the homegrown volunteer team sign up at this link: https://airtable.com/shrmkaP5uL89ijBNd