Bluesfest is filled with passionate, sweaty and oftentimes intoxicated music lovers.
It’s also filled with many colourful shirt-wearing volunteers. How many does it take for the festival to run smoothly?
Blue shirts
About 200, estimates Roxanne Komuntare, a blue-shirted information volunteer.
Komuntare said this is her 10th year in this role at the festival. She said she keeps coming back to it because of the music , the people and the experience of enjoying live music outside.
She and Shaina Larocque, another info volunteer standing with her, said that the huge question marks on their shirts bring a lot of interesting questions.
“Why is the world round? ‘Because it spins,’ is what I said,” a laughing Larocque said.
Despite all the ridiculous questions, Komuntare said she and Larocque love volunteering at the festival for the access to the shows.
“I’ve always said the reason why the info booth is the best is that you get a full festival pass for free, and you get to listen to music that you may have never listened to,” Larocque said.
Light blue shirts
The light blue shirts are at the gates, making sure everyone who enters the grounds knows where they’re going, said Kirsty Dominique, one of them.
The volunteer said the festival’s first night was pretty smooth, aside from seeing one guy go home in a police car.
Next to her is Ella Wall, another volunteer of the light blue category.
“Tonight I’m working from 7:30 to 11, and then I have three more shifts. But tomorrow until Wednesday we’re off, and we can come in any time,” she said excitedly.
Pink shirts
It’s Dean Calof’s second year volunteering at Bluesfest. He said he returned because he loves the pink shirt he gets for assisting festival-goers with disabilities.
The bright shirt, with a big wheelchair printed on it, glows in the evening sun.
“I also love being able to help out patrons who need a bit more assistance than others. You see many of the same patrons, and you help them enjoy the experience as much as you can,” he said.
Calof’s role is to help out at the accessibility area, which offers a perfect view of the RBC Stage.
Looking out at Ottawa-based hard rock band FITH and patiently awaiting Cypress Hill and Limp Bizkit’s sets, Calof said he returned because he loves the music.
Dark green shirts
Brett Duhaime was another volunteer eagerly awaiting Limp Bizkit’s set.
He said he’d be content in his spot at the entrance of the accessibility area when they play.
“As long as I can hear it, I’m good,” he said.
His role is to supervise the pink shirts. He said his role, which he loves, is to basically “place people in places.”
“I really enjoy being a part of things and helping people out.”
This is Duhaime’s second year at the festival, but his first as a supervisor.
Though he was pumped for some lively shows, he was hoping there wouldn’t be as much of a “riot” as there was when Green Day played.
“Organized chaos,” he said with a laugh.
Light green shirts
This is the volunteer appreciation team, whose role is to essentially “go around giving high fives and say thank you,” said Marc Gagnon, who has been in the role at Bluesfest for 15 years.
“It’s part of giving back, being part of the community,” he said, gesturing to a group of light green-shirted individuals around him who cheered as he spoke.
Another part of his role is to choose some fans and volunteers to bring on stage with various acts, Gagnon said, adding that he was working on organizing the lucky ones for the night’s Cypress Hill show.
“It’s the volunteers and the music that comes from this. It’s the heartbeat of Ottawa. There’s something really extra special here,” said Marnie Drover, another volunteer in the group with Gagnon.
Green shirts
The third and final of the green shirts are those responsible for tending to the festival’s garbage.
Lydiane and Augustin Gagnon are siblings who are thrilled to be getting their high school’s required volunteer hours and a festival pass on the side.
“We pretty much just walk around and go to stations and see if they need any bags. Around seven to eight is when it has been the busiest,” said Augustin, “It’s unreal the amount of people that are out there, and there’s a lot of trash on the ground.”
His sister, who’s excited to see The Lumineers on July 12, said gloves are an essential part of her role.
“We also get free meals and snacks,” she said, laughing.
Red shirts
With all the music and all the heat, someone’s got to get these people some beers.
That someone is Naya Goguen, who’s one of the volunteers responsible for stocking the festival’s beverages.
“We make sure that when the bev cashiers get an order, we’re running it to them; we’re opening them. We are the behind-the-scenes of the beer tents,” she said, adding that the light blue shirt-clad volunteers are the ones who cash out the drink orders.
Goguen, who became giddy at the thought of seeing Angine de Poitrine with her festival pass, said that if the red shirts didn’t exist, people would be very sad.
“I love music festivals. I’ve always been curious about what’s behind the scenes,” she said.
Orange shirts
“I’m the road warrior crew, so we take care of making sure pedestrians and partygoers are safe,” said Hassan Kajan, who’s a first-time orange shirt volunteer.
On the festival’s opening night , everyone was co-operative, so he’s hoping the rest of his shifts will entail smooth sailing.
With his free festival pass, which he very honestly said is the reason he’s volunteering, he’ll be seeing Angine de Poitrine and The Guess Who.
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If you make your way to Bluesfest and come across a colourful-shirted volunteer, make sure to say a heartfelt thanks. They’re picking up your beer cans, after all!
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