Volunteering at Collabapalooza
Signing Up to Volunteer
Attending the SDSU craft beer program has definitely opened up many doors for me already. My first craft beer volunteering opportunity at the Adams Avenue Street Fair was made possible by the email updates I get through the program. I became aware of Collabapalooza through the emails as well as the ability to volunteer at the event. The email came through with both job and volunteer opportunities. They were asking for 40-50 volunteers so I was sure they would have room for me. The email had a link to the volunteer sign up form which I immediately filled out.
A few weeks before the event I received a couple of different verification emails. One of the emails had a volunteer ticket to the event. The other email was from the head of the volunteers giving us information about parking and the location. It also asked us if we would be needing validation for parking and what shirt size we wanted for our shirt. I emailed back a confirmation that I had received the ticket, my shirt size, and that I would be needing parking validation. I was definitely excited for this volunteering opportunity!
The Start of the Day
The day of the event was finally here. Like the Rock Star Beer and Music Festival I would be arriving before the guest. With this in mind, I didn’t leave early since there wasn’t going to be any traffic. Driving there wasn’t an issue at all and I arrived early. The parking for the event was in the parking deck across the street. Since the event was taking place during a holiday weekend, the parking deck had a flat rate and attendants working the entrance. I told them I was volunteering at the event and they let me through making sure I knew to get validation.
I parked my car and walked across the street to where the event was being put on. The entrance to the event was right across the street from the parking deck. There was a Box Office next to the entrance where the volunteers were to check in. I walked up to the Box Office and told them I was volunteering at the event. They checked my name off of the list and gave me a volunteer wrist band. I put the wrist band on, walked inside the event, and sat down at a table with some other volunteers.
ABC Training and Brewery Assignments
As I was sitting I saw a bunch of familiar faces among the volunteers there. I saw people from previous SDSU classes as well as people I had met at other volunteer events. I talked with a few people before we were gathered up for ABC training. This training was a lot smoother than at Adams Avenue. They went over basic rules and regulations such as not drinking while you’re serving and checking ID. After the training they started doing brewery assignments for pouring beer.
This is where I went wrong for the day. I’ve always been a laid back person overall. It doesn’t really matter to me which brewery I’m helping out at, I just want to volunteer and learn. Thinking this was going to be a large event and they needed all volunteers to help out with pouring beer, I didn’t shout out which brewery I wanted. They went through a short list of breweries that needed help and then were done with the list. Only about half the volunteers would be pouring beer. I was a disappointed to say the least.
My Volunteering Task
The Collabapalooza T-shirt we received as volunteers.
After learning that I wouldn’t be helping out pouring beer, I was, very briefly, interested to learn what I would be doing. I quickly found out… I would be putting wrist bands on people. The group of volunteers that were doing this spent about 10 minutes ripping apart the groups of wrist bands and putting them in a bucket to be prepared for later. After we finished separating the bands we stood around waiting for the guest to arrive.
One of the perks of volunteering at the event was the shirts that we would be receiving. Around this time the shirts started being ready for us to put on. The shirts were made on site by Shirts on Tap and the design is pictured to the right.
There were two different types of tickets sold for the event, VIP and regular. The VIPs got early access and started to line up waiting for the gates to open. There were about 7 people putting wrist bands on the guest. Sounds like a lot of people? It was. The first guests arrived and we spent a couple of minutes working hard to get all the guests through in an orderly fashion. Then there was small trickle of people for the next hour until the gates opened for the regular ticket holders. When the gates opened the second time for the regular ticket holders we had a couple of minutes of hard work again. Then another small trickle of people for the rest of the event.
Wrapping it up
The Collabapalooza Taster Cup.
I spend most of the event standing around at the entrance waiting for guest to arrive. I was however able to have some great conversations with the volunteers I was standing with. We spoke about where we were from as well as our careers. Speaking with all these people interested in craft beer about my desire for a career in craft beer gave me tons of great ideas.
At the end of the event we were able to walk around and try the beers that were offered. 5 o’clock rolled around and the event ended. The volunteers were given a drink voucher for North Park Beer Co and a food voucher for Mastiff Sausage Company. We walked to North Park Beer Co since it was just a couple of blocks away. When we got there, they were cleaning up from a previous private event and spent a lot of time cleaning up before we could get in. After we were let in we had great food and beer and a great time hanging out with other volunteers.
Conclusion
I certainly learned something new at this volunteering opportunity. While I didn’t learn much about the beer industry or proper pouring styles, I learned that you need to speak up for what you want. Having not volunteered at many events, and always pouring when I had, I made the wrong assumption that I would be doing that here as well. While I didn’t get the chance to pour beer, I still made many great connections and had a great time.
Have you had any great experiences volunteering at beer festivals? Let me know in the comments below! Be sure to follow my social media and sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date on my adventures!
0 Comments