Volunteers are a huge part of the Calgary Folk Music Festival this weekend at the city’s Prince’s Island Park.
And for some members of that hardworking crew, it’s a longstanding family tradition.
Robin Greig and his wife Laura Eddy-Greig have been volunteering at the folk fest for the past 23 years.
And then in 2006, their daughter Kim met her husband-to-be, Mike Noll, while both were serving as volunteers at the event.
“They actually passed each other in front of the trailer I was working in,” Eddy-Greig said. “ and I watched them and I said to somebody ‘yep, they’ll be dating soon’.”
The couple was engaged a year later, with daughters Alexis and Avery soon on the way.
The two girls, now ages nine and four, volunteer at the festival alongside their parents and grandparents.
“We just really hang out and help with the electrical stuff,” Alexis Noll said. “That’s our job.”
Kim Noll takes holiday time off work each year to be at the folk fest alongside her family.
“For Mike and I and the kids, our history really started here,” Noll said. “There’s just something really fun about being able to watch them grow up here.”
There’ve been so many great memories over the years, including pitching in to make the festival happen after the devastating 2013 flood hit the site.
“We had hundreds of people just come together,” Mike Noll said. “and we got this island clean and we opened up the festival on time.”
The Calgary Folk Music Festival opened on time again for 2023, running from Thursday, July 27 to Sunday, July 30.
Asked what was the family’s favourite thing about the folk fest, Alexis Noll was quick with a response – “Hanging out with family.”