ENLARGING THE VOLUNTEER CORE

Volunteer involvement was key to producing the "Gunstocks and Bustles" weekend festival. Because the Friends of Arrow Rock had conceptualized the creation of a volunteer group as early as February, it was able to utilize volunteers both in the planning and in the production stage of the festival. Ms. Borgman reported: "College students and several volunteers took on the supervision of games such as croquet, hoops, and checkers. Other volunteers took charge of various jobs: securing local musicians, setting up a cookies and lemonade booth, researching costumes, organizing the schedule of volunteers, and training volunteers on the details of the Sites House and Gun Shop." Volunteers were additionally used in the 1872 Christian Church period worship service to portray the preacher, organist, and deacon. Of course, since the festival was held well after the intern project had ended and after summer staff had left, volunteers learned the parts of John and Nannie Sites for the reenactment tours.

Both President Sue Stubbs and Education Director Pam Parsons were actively involved in the recruitment and training of the rapidly growing volunteer corps. Their supervision, along with the organizational aid of volunteers Clay Marsh, Mary Burge, and Gary Fuenfhausen, helped to solidify the participation of a core group of sixty volunteers. These volunteers proved to be a lasting asset to the Friends of Arrow Rock, as many have stayed on; the group itself has a great potential for future involvement in programs, docent groups, and future first-person reenactment tours. By tapping into, as Ms. Parsons stated, "talents that [we] may have overlooked in the past from [volunteers]," Friends of Arrow Rock staff were also able bring in fresh ideas for their project and delegate some responsibilities for the organization of the event.

However, radically increasing the volunteer base did pose administrative and logistical difficulties for the permanent staff of the Friends of Arrow Rock. After all, the intern project, the new exhibit (which included three new summer staff members), and the organizational planning for the festival and the volunteer group occurred simultaneously. As Ms. Stubbs related, maintaining quality in the volunteer training and supervision "became a real...administrative burden" as it was coupled with all of the other projects. Still, Friends of Arrow Rock staff do plan on continuing to use volunteers in a way essential to its operation. They continue to meet with volunteers, provide training for them, and adopt a structured approach which will allow them to realize the potential volunteers offer without overextending resources or staff.