IT’S FESTIVAL TIME. The 2005 Swiss Wine Festival will officially kick off on Thursday, August 25th — just two weeks from now — at the Paul Ogle Riverfront Park. Although the festival is still two weeks away, volunteer crews have already been busy down at the park getting things ready — from putting up security fencing to marking booth spots to readying the main stage and other areas.
For many, the Swiss Wine Festival is more than a four day event. The festival organizing committee has been working year-round to make sure that the 2005 Swiss Wine Festival is a great one. Each year as visitors walk around the festival you get the feeling that it can never get any better than it is — and then the next year a hard-working group of community volunteers proves us wrong.
There are also groups like the Little Swiss Polka Dancers and the Edelweiss Dancers who have been meeting and practicing their dances for most of the summer. There are members of the community who have taken on the responsibility of coordinating specific events at the festival, and have been working on those nearly all year.
The Swiss Wine Festival that people will see at the end of this month is the result of 12 months worth of planning and preparation and hard work on the part of many county residents, and they should be congratulated for their efforts.
There are many volunteers working behind the scenes as members of all types of committees for the various events, all of whom deserve our thanks for the effort that they are putting out to make sure that this festival is a great success.
What makes the Swiss Wine Festival unique is that as it has grown, the core organization has been successful in bringing in new faces to handle the growing expectations. This has enabled the festival here to keep it’s “small town” atmosphere, while putting on what must be considered as the best festival in this part of Indiana.
And it’s all done through the work of volunteers. There’s no professional organization or paid staff attending to all of the various details.
Many of us will take for granted all of the effort of those volunteers as we enjoy the festival. We will see people wandering about, checking on the electrical supply or finding trophies or selling souvenirs, but we really need to stop and shake their hands and tell them they’re doing a great job.
Like other events, often times we have a tendency to look and see what’s wrong rather than what’s right. Hundreds of events will go off without a hitch during the 2005 festival, and maybe — just maybe — one or two may experience some minor problems.
Let’s make sure that we see what’s right with our Swiss Wine Festival, and take the time to enjoy it.