Boulder J Fest – Get Ready!

This year’s event is on Sunday, June 6 – less than a week after Memorial Day. That means it’s a short week. Really.  Believe us. It’s about a month away.

The all-volunteer Boulder Jewish Festival planning committee has been working on this year’s event for more than a year. In fact, some of the planning for 2010 began even before the 2009 festival. And the hard work and dedication of this team pays off each year.

This year, the team introduced online registration for community booths and artists. We used Boulder-based RegOnline.com. The committee had been using paper registration (with checks for payment and hand-written contact information) for 15 years.  We were looking for a way to handle less paper and fewer checks, while giving groups an easy way to get the registration/equipment rentals done without needing a stamp. We are thrilled with the results – we had more groups than ever register, and the event was full by the deadline we set in April. Most of the registrants took advantage of the secure online credit card payment system, and we don’t have to decipher any one’s handwriting either. Huge win!  If your group isn’t already using an online registration system for events, it might be time to give it a test-drive. We found a higher, faster response rate – wouldn’t you like that for your events?

Another win this year: involving the JCC Maccabi team for a sports-themed kids area.  The teens on the Denver JCC Maccabi team will be staffing the kids area until 3 pm. At around 3 each year, most of the younger kids have gone home to nap, so the kids area will transform into a giant GaGa pit for the teens to play.

That’s not all – but that’s it for now.  More details about this year’s event are on the Festival website, boulderjewishfestival.org, where you can find lists of Jewish non-profit groups, the artists that will be in the Judaic show, food vendors, the entertainment line-up and more. If you are involved with one of the participating non-profit groups, see if they could use your help, for an hour or two. Or, help out as a day-of-event volunteer with the Festival team – join the Meetup group for more info. You can “like” the Festival on Facebook, and get updates on Twitter too.

See you on June 6!

Many thanks to this year’s Festival sponsors: