This year a friend and I had the opportunity of volunteering at the Franco Festival 2014 in Calgary, which was unique and exceptional two-day festival. For those that don’t know about the Franco Festival Calgary, it is a Francophone Multicultural festival in Calgary that was established in August 2011. It is an initiative of Le Portail de l’Immigrant Association which is a non-profit organization based in Calgary that has launched a variety of projects in different areas such as education, awareness of our surroundings, promotion of immigration and diversity, sociocultural and economic integration.
My volunteering experience at the Franco Festival was quite fun, not because of the free food I got, but because I got to learn a lot about the Francophone culture. The first day of the event was quite dreary because of the harsh winds that were blowing that day and unfortunately many people were not able to show up. On the first day, my friend and I were assigned the role of putting up tents, but it was quite hard because of the intense wind that was blowing that day. To make matters worse, there was a drizzle of rain that made it almost impossible to get anything done. At the end of that day, the rain and winds had ceased and the weather was a little bit more suitable for the people that came to the event.
The second day of the Franco Festival was very exhilarating because it was sunny and partly cloudy. On the second day of the event my friend and I were assigned the role of managing parking. The role we were assigned to was very tiring because we were both in the hot sun, but in the end it actually was not as bad as we had expected. After our shift, we were given the opportunity to walk around the event to experience the rich Francophone Multicultural festival. At the event, there were various tents that represented different French speaking countries.In addition, we were able to watch some Francophone performances, which were mainly dance and music. Through this, the festival is able to promote the talent of local artists, not to mention the many people and organizations working to share the vitality and radiance of the culture.
At the event, there were many families that came with their children. The children had access to what seemed like a very fun bouncy castle, while their parents had the opportunity to experience the Francophone culture. Lastly, what made this day very exhilarating was the fact that there were free slurpees that were given out since it was a very hot day. That made my day.
At the end of the day, I believe the Franco Festival was a very fun volunteering opportunity. Additionally, I found it to be a very inviting event for any individual, French or not to discover the proficient Francophone culture. I also felt that the festival posed as a great opportunity to honour artists and people who contribute their efforts to the development of French speaking cultures. I would recommend this event to anyone that would want to gain greater knowledge of the Francophone Community or just generally, have fun.
For More info check out: http://www.francofestcalgary.com/
