Changing of the Burtonsville Day guard

As past organizers step down, new committee members are needed to plan annual event

Committee members responsible for the parade, vendors and entertainment are stepping down from their positions before this year’s 17th annual Burtonsville Day, scheduled for Sept. 28 and 29. The committee has dealt in the past with one lead volunteer leaving, but never with three at the same time, O’Hara said.

For that reason, the Burtonsville Day Committee was scheduled to meet Tuesday for the first time this year to discuss how to attract more volunteers, as well as planning and organizing efforts. The meeting took place after The Gazette’s deadline.

In previous years, the committee has met for the first time in April, O’Hara said, though January meetings have been held in the past. ‘‘We’ve got to get the community reinvigorated,” he said. ‘‘We need to get more ideas and attract new people in the community.”

Other committee members agreed. ‘‘We have this question every year,” Carol Smith said. ‘‘It’s nice to have new faces.”

Planning for Burtonsville Day has become largely standardized, with volunteers now trying to maintain and add to the list of contacts stored on a computer and longtime participants familiar with the event’s routine. ‘‘Some things take care of themselves,” Smith said. While that makes creating Burtonsville Day easier for the committee, it still needs volunteers who can help with any problems that arise during the event.

‘‘We don’t want to let anything slip through the cracks,” she said.

Steve Weiner regularly attended Burtonsville Day before he joined the event’s committee in 2000. The last two years, he has coordinated the parade but is now stepping down. ‘‘We need some new blood,” he said.

Weiner’s job description included contacting parade entrants from a computerized spreadsheet and handling their applications prior to Burtonsville Day. On the day of the event, he set up the procession and had volunteers stationed along the parade route. Weiner also rode at the back of the parade each year. ‘‘It’s been a lot of fun,” he said.

While there is a familiarity to Burtonsville Day, the committee always will listen to volunteers with ideas on how to change and improve the event.

‘‘Ideas come back and forth,” O’Hara said. ‘‘If someone wants to try something, we could probably do it.”

Last year, for example, Cedar Ridge Community Church hosted an outdoor movie and hayrides the night before Burtonsville Day. For six years, the church had a booth in the vending area, but last year decided to increase its involvement, said Melody Buckingham, director of special events for the church. ‘‘We live here and want to be a part of the community,” she said.

In addition to the Friday night activities, the church took charge of trash removal Saturday, with 40 or 50 members involved in cleanup efforts throughout the day.

Buckingham now sits on the Burtonsville Day Committee and said she has had no problems working with committee members. ‘‘They have been more than willing to have us help in any way we could,” she said.

O’Hara said he would like to see more civic organizations and churches involved with Burtonsville Day because of the built-in volunteer network they can tap.

With or without community groups, though, O’Hara remained confident Burtonsville Day would continue.

‘‘I can’t believe we would shut this down after 17 years. We have to reach at least 20,” he said, laughing.