The 31st annual Tooele Arts Festival will again run three full days, but Sunday won’t be one of them.
The festival will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday — June 15,16,17 — this year.
“This could just be a trial run, but Sunday is Father’s Day and we expect it to be a slow day for obvious reasons,” said Kaye Christensen, arts festival director. “So we won’t have it on Sunday.”
Christensen said one of the main things the festival needs is volunteers.
“On Wednesday (June 14) we will be setting up tents, food stations, bleachers and eating areas,” she said. “We definitely could use some help.”
Volunteer Michael Parks said the festival could use some “able-bodied grown men” to set things up on June 14.
“We have some heavy electrical wire stored in a shed, and we need men to help us pick it up from the storage shed and install it at the park. It’s very heavy,” Parks said. “We need to put it on a trailer to take it to the park.”
Christensen added, “We have several things in the storage unit that people could help us take to the park.”
Volunteers will also be needed on Sunday, June 18 to clean up and put things away.
“We also need volunteers during the festival — people who can man information booths, work with the visual artists, work at the Coke trailer,” Christensen said. “We need people who can exchange money, cook, walk around the park and keep it clean. If individuals could commit to work 3-hour shifts it would be great. We could use a volunteer to supervise the volunteer work.”
Christensen said the evening entertainment slots are filled, but there are still opportunities for other local groups to perform during the day such as school choruses or others.
About 18 musical groups are slated to perform during this year’s festival at the City Park at 200 W. Vine Street.
One of 18 musical groups, Carver Louis and Old Lincoln Highway Band, is led by former Tooele High School quarterback Carver Jaramillo. The former QB is the lead singer and guitarist.
Old Lincoln Highway Band will wrap up the entertainment on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.
The group provides a variety of music, such as country, rock and alternative. It recently published its first CD with five original songs.
“This year we tried to stick with entertainers who are local,” Christensen said. “We only have one entertainer from outside Utah. We have entertainers from Tooele, Park City, Ogden and Provo.”
The performer from outside Utah is Natalie Gelman.
“On Thursday, she just finished up touring with Bon Jovi,” Christensen said.
Gelman is known for her strong vocals, and has released two albums. She will perform on the opening night, June 15 at 8:30 p.m.
“We’ve often had a bagpipe band walking around and performing, and they were a big hit. They’re not coming this year,” Christensen said. “Instead, we have a great treat with the Japanese drum line Kenshin Taiko.”
The drum line will perform on Saturday.
Christensen said that more tan 50 visual artists have signed up so far, along with 22 food vendors.
For more information on volunteer opportunities, call Christensen at 801-831-8820 or Mike Parks at 435-849-5049.
For more information on the arts festival, go to tooeleartsfestival.org.