General 1 — Boston Local Food

Thank you, Volunteers

Volunteers are the engine that keeps the Boston Local Food Festival running. Volunteering at our festival provides you with great networking with like-minded volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and attendees. As part of our thanks, we will provide you with a t-shirt and a $15 voucher at the beginning of your volunteer shift. We ask you to be committed, enthusiastic, and responsible while helping strengthen the New England food system.

Volunteer Roles

Set-Up Stewards (morning only): These teams are made of people who are flexible to help wherever needed and ready to get right to work! You will be responsible for setting up tables and chairs, getting signs into the right location, and setting up event activities. At the beginning of the shift, you will report to your Zone Leader, who will tell you where to get started.
Parking Control (morning): You will ensure that the reserved parking spots are filled with the vehicles that reserved them and will let us know if an unknown vehicle is parked in a spot so we can have it towed.
Traffic Control (afternoon): Once Milk St. is blocked off, ensure that public vehicles do not turn onto it. The person assigned to this will be rotated to other volunteer opportunities throughout their shift.
New England Village Ambassadors: These volunteers will assist the Food Solutions New England team with set-up, answer questions, support the New England Village vendors, interact with guests, ensure signage is in the correct area, and invite guests to take the survey.
Seafood Throwdown Coordinators: These volunteers will work with the seafood chefs when creating their dishes. You need to aid the chefs with any logistical needs before, during, and after the demo. You should invite guests to experience the Throwdown and be available to clean up and break down everything.
Chef Demo Crew: These volunteers will be working with the chefs when demonstrating their skills and cleaning up in between chef demos. You need to aid chefs before, during, and after the demo with any logistical needs. You will also be responsible for showing the chefs how to operate the kitchen (we will provide education support at the beginning of the shift) and invite people to interact with the demos.
Ice and Item Couriers: You are expected to provide logistical support between points throughout the festival. Duties can include but are not limited to, filling in for any volunteer duty: ice deliveries, guiding people to different areas of the festival, assisting vendors with their needs, handing out the survey, educating people about the reusable water station, stage management, running information, etc.
Surveys and Public Engagement Guild: You will be stationed at the SBN info. Booths. Your task is to interact with festival attendees to obtain feedback from the public via a survey questionnaire, which will be incentivized by a free gift. These volunteers will enjoy interacting with attendees, answering their questions, providing direction around the festival, and assisting vendors should you need help.
Tear-Down & Clean-Up Team (evening only): These teams are made of people who are flexible to help wherever needed and ready to get right to work! At the beginning of the shift, you will report to your Zone Leader, who will tell you where to get started. Make sure to spend your $15 voucher at the beginning of your shift because the festival ends at 5:00. At 5:00; you will be responsible for taking down tables and chairs, gathering the signs in your zone, stacking chairs, picking up trash that is left behind, and helping vendors pack up their booths.

Donations

If you want to contribute to the 2024 Boston Local Food Festival but cannot attend as a volunteer, support local emerging food makers by contributing to the Boston Local Food Program so that we can improve the Festival. Click the button below to make a contribution to the Boston Local Food Festival.

Donate Here

Click Here to Volunteer

What is the Boston Local Food Festival?

The Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts (SBN) is the producer of the 14th Annual Boston Local Food Festival, which is a FREE outdoor festival that showcases farmers, local restaurants, food trucks, specialty food producers, fishermen, and organizations focusing on healthy food from New England. The festival also features lively Chef Demos, a Seafood Throwdown competition, a Family Fun Zone, and more. This year's festival is happening on September 15th.

Contact Us.

If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the form below. If you have questions about volunteering or want to learn more, email the Local Food Program Coordinator, Gabrielle, at gabrielle@sbnmass.org.