The Festival relies heavily on the involvement and support of the local community and businesses. Volunteers carry out the mammoth task of organising the event, which becomes more challenging each year as the Festival continues to grow in size and popularity.

Now, after more than 21 years of continuous community service, the Festival is a regular fixture on the Tuggeranong social calendar. It is an occasion that involves more than 40 community groups, local small businesses, associations and sporting bodies.

For 2010 the Tuggeranong Festival, and its partner Communities@Work, will be directly involved in organising the following events and activities:

• Friday night youth entertainment, skating under the stars
• Friday night street party & light projector show along Cowlishaw Street
• Mascots wiggle & greet and scare crow whispers corner
• Children’s main show
• Main stage activities, featuring community group performances
• Family Fun Saturday in the Park
• Main family concert, featuring well know Australian artists including The Choirboys
• Fireworks spectacular over Lake Tuggeranong

The Festival will also support:

• Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s Leonid Film Awards screening and presentation night
• Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts community sailing regatta
• The Great Carp Catch (a free fishing competition)
• Kids’ Corner
• Vintage car show and shine
• Side show alley, amusements, games, rides and food and craft stalls
• Dusk till dawn football charity tournament
• Fly ball dog competition
• Family movie premier for low income people and families
• Seniors Still Going Strong

Volunteer Management

Volunteer policy

The Tuggeranong Festival values the knowledge and skills that volunteers bring to this event.  We encourage the participation of people and community groups to pass on their skills, knowledge and experience for the betterment for the entire community.  In return, the Tuggeranong Festival provides opportunities for volunteers to acquire new skills, particularly in relation to planning, co-ordinating and implementing the Festival program.  Apart from the new skills, strong friendships are often formed, and there is enormous satisfaction in seeing the event work well.

Volunteer recruitment

The Tuggeranong Festal holds regular “volunteer drives” at suburban shopping centers to promote the spirit of “Bringing the Community Together”, disseminate literature about the Festival and its sponsors, and raise community awareness.

Our vision is also communicated via a media network that includes print, radio, and local television. These media publicise details of public meetings, forthcoming events and activities, and invite people and groups to contact us.

Throughout the year, the Tuggeranong Festival mails directly to sporting groups, schools, ethnic and community groups, special interest groups and churches to encourage their involvement in developing the program content.

Volunteer education and training, and supervision

The Tuggeranong Festival is conscious of the wealth of experience volunteers bring to the event, and as such, we are keen to reciprocate.  New volunteers a paired with a “mentor” who has a several years of experience and knowledge of Festival activities, such as: organising events (including planning, community and media liaison), raising sponsorship, attending to the organisation’s financial and administrative functions, program development, public speaking and letter writing.

Volunteers are encouraged to acquire new skills and confidence in managing the many Festival activities at their own pace.

Volunteer recognition

Tuggeranong Festival’s volunteers are recognised each year in the President’s Annual Report, tabled at the Annual General Meeting.  The report is also sent to all sponsors and distributed to community groups for their information.

Some of our volunteers have received community awards for dedicated service and an Order of Australia.  More recently, a number of volunteers were nominated for the ACT Volunteer of the Year Awards and ACT Lifeline’s Woman of Spirit Awards.