All-volunteer effort

Before the loggers start sawing timber, before the crazily dressed families line up for the fun run, before the vendors set up their booths and before the first band takes to the stage, a devoted cadre of volunteers put in countless hours to make Spokane Valley’s premiere community event a reality.

“All kinds of people come together to help us,” said Peggy Doering, longtime leader of Valleyfest’s all-volunteer staff.

Their tasks this year are some of the most ambitious ever. At an office in the Spokane Valley Community Center the size of a walk-in closet, Doering went through a long list of things she’s had to round up just for the new logging competition this year, including excavation equipment, a 10,000-gallon log-rolling tank and the water to fill it.

“I’ve learned how to calculate pi R squared again,” Doering said.

She has a house full of Valleyfest stuff because the storage unit is now full of unassembled chain saws, Doering said at one of the last meetings of about 15 volunteers who oversee everything from parking to stocking the pond at Mirabeau Park with rainbow trout for kids to catch.

Parade coordinator Ken Weedmark said 75 groups met the deadline to sign up for Friday’s march down Sprague Avenue. But, as in the past 10 years he’s organized the parade, a few more entries will find their way into the lineup until the last minute.

“I try not to turn anybody away, so it’s a juggling act for two weeks,” he said earlier this week. The number of parade entrants is expected to reach almost 100, and about 2,500 people will line up Friday to participate.

Another 15 volunteers, many from a local Boy Scouts troop and other civic groups, will help get everyone in position.

Bringing the event together is time consuming, and Weedmark said few people realize just how much work goes into the festival, which drew 10,000 to the parade and 32,000 to the park last year.

The day of the festival, about 125 to 150 volunteers help keep things running smoothly, and at least 30 more help with the parade the night before.

“The vast majority of us do it for one reason, and that’s the kids,” Weedmark said.

About 4,000 people came to the first Valleyfest at Terrace View Park in 1990 to take part in free activities for children and learn more about services available to people in unincorporated Spokane County. Now the event has grown to the point where its budget totals $75,000 in donations, grants and in-kind services from all manner of local businesses.

In 1997 Doering listed her home number in the phone book as a contact for Valleyfest and started receiving 40 to 60 calls a day. Eventually they moved into their current office, and every year the event grows in both attendance and complexity.

“People love Valleyfest. They think a great deal of it,” said Bill Burke.

The Pig Out in the Park founder also has volunteered with Valleyfest for the last decade and will usher 15 performing groups onto two stages with the help of about 15 volunteers this weekend.

As Spokane Valley continues to find its identity as a city, Burke said he believes Valleyfest will become even more important as the Valley’s top festival.

“I think Valleyfest is a real good reflection of the community it serves,” Burke said.