TRAVERSE CITY — Will Riley’s summer vacations aren’t what they used to be.
For as long as he can remember, the high school sophomore from Chicago headed with his family each summer to their cabin on Bass Lake southwest of Traverse City to relax and unwind from big-city life.
But the Traverse City Film Festival changed all that. Since last month, Riley’s had his hands full as a festival intern, organizing bike racks, distributing posters and maps, booking pre-movie entertainment for the Open Space, and drafting the volunteer guidebook, among a host of other tasks.
“It is mainly work, but that’s fun, too,” said Riley, 14, the festival’s assistant transportation manager. “To go and get out of a school setting and go to a workplace setting and get experience ... really is an amazing thing. Learning management skills, people skills, office skills and learning all about film, too, along the way.”
The volunteer ranks within the festival have steadily grown over the past four years to an army of thousands, like Riley, that organizers credit as the lifeblood of the five-day event.
With only two paid staffers, nearly all of the festival’s ticket takers and concession workers as well as more specialized positions like cinematographers, projectionists and public relations specialists donate their time and enthusiasm to make the event a success, said volunteer coordinator Nancy Baker.
“We have a really great volunteer database system ... and we have seen that explode to 2,700 volunteers this year,” said Baker, who sent out more than 700 e-mails this year to potential volunteers.
“We are not offering discounted tickets or any special privileges. I think people really do this for that gratifying feeling of being part of such a wonderful event,” she said.
And the festival spirit is infectious. Aside from “an incredible amount of return volunteers,” many at this year’s festival are out-of-towners who will spend their vacation as one of the 25 workers it takes to show each movie, or the countless behind-the-scenes helpers responsible for driving around directors or picking up trash, Baker said.
“You just never hear people complain,” she said. “The chemistry is almost overwhelmingly positive.”
It’s that energizing atmosphere that brought Winnie Boal back for her third year. That and the movies.
“Even when you are doing what seems like really boring work like stuffing envelopes, you are chatting with people. It just has a really fun atmosphere,” said Boal, who splits her time between Cincinnati and Charlevoix.
“One of the things I love about it is the range of movies that are offered and it’s just fun,” she said. “It’s just amazing how many hours it takes ... to put on a film festival and I think they have it down now.”
Traverse City Film Festival
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