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Assistant Managing Editor WILBRAHAM Peanut butter? Jelly. Ice cream? Cone. Wilbraham? Peaches. Some words are just synonymous. But the fate of Wilbraham's tie to their well-known Peach Festival is hanging in the balance. A decrease in the number of helping hands needed to put on the annual three-day festival has put a cloud of uncertainty over its future. This Wednesday residents are highly encouraged to turn out to the "Save the Festival" meeting at the Wilbraham Public Library at 7 p.m. to save an event that has provided over $300,000 in grants and scholarships over the last 10 years. Chuck Higgins, president of the Wilbraham Community Association (WCA) which puts on the Peach Festival, said, "The whole intent of [the Jan. 23 meeting] is to bring the public in. If we don't get interest, there's a good chance that we'll cancel the festival." Higgins said most residents do not realize that the festival is not a town sponsored event. According to their Web site, www.peachfestival.org, when the organization was formed in 1985, and subsequently through the years, the Peach Festival included nine volunteer steering committee members, 75 full committee members and hundreds of volunteers throughout Peach Festival weekend. Those numbers have dwindled dramatically over the last few years. "Those three days in August are the result of a year-round effort of a core group of less than 15 volunteers of the WCA and quite frankly, we just don't have the legs to do it on our own this year," Higgins said. Longtime WCA member Caroline Cunningham explained that volunteers are always an issue with non-profits. "The Peach Fest is a large community-based event and it takes more than a couple of people to run it," Cunningham said, adding that festival preparations usually begin in February. "It doesn't mean that volunteers need to spend hundreds of hours. We need people to spend a couple of hours at a time people of all ages." Many local cities and towns have lost or put off signature community events such as Celebrate Holyoke, the Taste of Springfield and the Miss East Longmeadow Pageant, due to a poor number of volunteers and/or financial burdens. Higgins doesn't want to see the same thing happen in Wilbraham. "The Wilbraham Community Association is proud that over the past decade the festival pumped an average of $300,000 annually directly into the community [through] scholarships, grants and fundraising for local civic groups," Higgins said. "Forgoing the 2008 festival is not a step we would take lightly, but the harsh reality is that without support from the community at large, the WCA doesn't have the internal resources to plan, coordinate, set-up and run the festival." The WCA is not looking for a set number of volunteers, either. Youth groups, church groups and school organizations are welcome to participate as well. "What we are looking for are folks that can provide a handful of hours of assistance in a variety of areas between now and August," Higgins added. "The 'Save the Festival' meeting is just that -- it is a gut-check to see if we can marshal enough bodies to put on the 2008 Festival." The "Save the Festival" meeting is open to the public. There will be information on hand as to how volunteers can help out. |
