FALL FESTIVAL 2015
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A ‘Joyful’ experience
Festival chairman, committee credit volunteers for success
The best thing about the Plymouth
Fall Festival for President Eric Joy is
working with all the volunteer groups
in the community.
The worst thing about the job?
Working with all the volunteer groups
in the community.
“I love it. I keep doing it, because I
love working with these volunteer
groups for somany good causes. Seeing
what they can do with the money they
earn at this event means a lot to every-
one.
“You can just see the good these
groups do,” he said.
But trying to fit the planning and
scheduling of the number of groups
involved into all the varying schedules
isn't always easy, Joy admitted.
The groups usually change their
slate of officers, too, during the sum-
mer months. Often, the person Joy
worked with the year before isn't the
same one he needs to reach for the cur-
rent year.
“That can be a challenge. And the
festival takes place right before the
kids go back to school, so the groups
from the schools are sometimes harder
to find,” he said.
“These people are all volunteers,
they have lives, just like the rest of us.
They have commitments, and they
have to work this into their schedules
but they do this for the same reason the
rest of us do. It is so good for our com-
munity,” Joy said.
“I mean, where else can you go and
see these groups all in one place, and
see so many people working for the
same goal? It is just a terrific feeling to
see this every year,” he said.
Joy said that he and theFall Festival
Committee including Frank Agostini
from E.G. Nick's restaurant, James
Geitzen from JAG Entertainment and
Mike Richardson have made a few
changes this year, one of the largest
fromnecessity.
“We can no longer use Union
Street,” Joy said, “sowe took the oppor-
tunity to move the Craft Show onto
Penniman and Main Street and we
moved the car showontoForest Street.
“I think this will prove to be a good
move,” Joy said. “The craft show gets a
lot of attention and this will give them
more visibility,” he added. “The car
show will take people to Forest Street
and help with the flow of the crowds,”
he said.
Joy admitted that organizing the
event was easier in this, his third year
at the helm, as he knew what to expect
and so far, there have been no serious
catastrophes.
“We might have a conflict of two
groups wanting to sell the same items,
but so far, everything has been pretty
smooth,” he said.
This year, Joy said, he advises visi-
tors to the festival not tomiss the bands
Geitzen has booked into Kellogg Park
for entertainment.
“James did a fantastic job getting us
some really good bands,” he said.
Friday night, Sound Alternative will
perform and Saturday night Trilogy
will take to the stage. Both performanc-
es are scheduled for 7 p.m. Joy said.
“Seriously, I love doing this and I
really love the festival. I worked on the
committee for 8 years before I became
chairman and it is still fun for me.
Watching families having a good time,
seeing the community groups working
together and all the volunteers, it's just
a real tribute to our town,” Joy conclud-
ed.
Eric Joy
James Geitzen, Frank Agostini and Eric Joy
