The city of Clearwater needs your help and your time. The Sugar Sand Festival is already underway at Clearwater Beach but they still need more volunteers.
"If you need to purchase tickets you go in this way, do you already have your tickets?" David Gavenda asks.
Every day since the Sugar Sand Festival started last week, Gavenda has manned his post, directing tourist traffic.
“Meeting and greeting people, helping people,” he said.
He volunteers his time and right now, the city of Clearwater wishes they had more of him. They need about 450 volunteers for this 10-day festival and they're only at 60 percent of that.
“There hasn’t always been a need for 450 volunteers but over the years the event continues to grow and grow in popularity and grow and grow in size so therefore you need more volunteers,” Jason Beisel, public information coordinator with Clearwater said.
This is the first year the city has taken on the task of providing volunteers. As the city hosts more high profile events, the volunteer resources are stretched thin.
“When we’re understaffed it makes it more difficult for everybody that’s here,” Gavenda said.
Beisel said, typically, volunteers would be at every corner in the tent, but now, there are only a few, making sure no one touches the sand sculptures. About 300 people an hour make their way through the exhibit.
“It’s a little bit more stressful because of the just the volume of people that are here, you can’t help everybody the way you’d like to help them,” Gavenda said.
You can still volunteer for Sugar Sand. Visit: http://sugarsandfestival.com/volunteer/.
The city is also looking for volunteers for the Junior Softball World Championships in July.
