PORT TOWNSEND — As Rhododendron Festival volunteers work on this year’s event, the preparation for the 2013 celebration already is under way.
“We are thinking about what we will do next year right now,” said Melanie Bozak, co-president with Christie Hensley of the 77th annual Rhododendron Festival.
“We don’t want to wait for the last minute to start preparations.”
The final weekend of the Rhody Fest is this weekend, with such old favorite events as the Kiddie Parade and Bed Races today, the Grand Parade on Saturday and the Rhody Run on Sunday.
While there will be some time to regroup after this year’s festival is over, the process of setting up the parade and all the surrounding events begins now.
There is more optimism this year than in 2011, when the floats needed repair and the entire venture was in financial crisis.
“The festival is now solvent,” Bozak said.
“People stepped up and gave their money and their time out of necessity and got us out of a difficult situation.”
Last spring, the festival announced it was in trouble, lacking money to provide needed repairs to the parade float and the trailer that hauls it around.
An anonymous donor stepped forward with $1,000 for the float, and two other donations subsidized the rental of Memorial Field.
A fundraiser at 7 Cedars Casino took the festival the rest of the way home, building a future for the festival.
Bozak said the budget for next year is in development, but the process is in place.
The first step is to select a theme, which this year is “Spring into Rhody.”
The theme needs to be generic enough to be easily understood and flexible to accommodate different design ideas, all finalized by August.
The festival operates under a series of deadlines, such as the requirement that the pin design be submitted well before Chinese New Year, which is Feb. 10.
Working backward from that date, the theme must be determined in time to come up with the right design in time for the pins, a fundraising tool and an important keepsake, to be ready in time for the festival.
There can’t be a Rhody event without royalty, and the process to recruit people to help wave the baton begins with the next school year.
There is an age requirement: Participants must be juniors or seniors in high school, or 17 or 18 if they are home-schooled.
While royalty aspirants are generally women, this is not a requirement.
Young men who want to participate are welcome to do so.
In fact, becoming royalty is an opportunity available to anyone who wants to put in the time and effort
Bozak said it’s not easy.
“The first thing that people need to know is this is not a beauty pageant,” she said.
“It’s a scholarship pageant.
“This is hard work,” she continued.
“They learn how to speak in public, how to be interviewed, and they learn how to conduct themselves.”
Once selected, the royalty follows a 14-appearance schedule that fills many weekends from May to October.
This year, the delegation — which includes the royalty, float and support volunteers — will travel as far east as Wenatchee, as far south as Portland, Ore., and to places in between.
Even with this opportunity to see other parts of the state and learn new skills, the response isn’t always overwhelming; there were two members of the royal court this year and three in 2011.
Bozak hopes to pump up the 2013 recruitment efforts with greater outreach.
“We can do more in the schools, to visit them all and let the kids know how being royalty can benefit them,” she said.
Bozak said royalty participation teaches responsibility and entrepreneurship, as each member must raise more than $1,000 to pay for their Rhody costume.
Royalty isn’t the only part where Rhody is looking for new interest.
Bozak and Hensley are recruiting volunteers for everything from carpentry to chaperoning.
They would like to expand the Rhody board to about 15 members, so each person would be responsible for one thing rather than needing to double up.
“We could use some extra people for publicity and promotion,” Bozak said.
“Right now, we have one person doing many different things.
“People have their own jobs to do, so they can’t always be jumping around doing something else.”
Bozak participated this year as co-president in order to train Hensley, who will serve as president in 2013.
Although all of the expected components will continue, Hensley said the event “is evolving,” and she’d like to see some new activities or resurrections of old ones.
“We’d like to bring some of the old stuff back — like the keg toss or the hair-growing contest,” she said.
“And it would be good to have a street dance, where we get local bands to play on Friday night.”
Bozak and her husband, Steve, were honored this week with a Heart of Service Award, which recognizes local volunteers.
The couple were lauded for their efforts in keeping the Rhody tradition afloat.
Melanie Bozak was visibly moved at the ceremony and was happy for the recognition, but disagreed with the idea that she did it all alone.
“There were people who said that we saved Rhody, but we didn’t save anything,” she said.
“It succeeded because everyone stepped up and helped. We all worked together.
“All we are doing is trying to get a new group of people involved to keep it going.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
