Directors: Responsibilities and Expectations

Directors meet once a month to plan the Festival and to execute those plans. We meet on the third Wednesday of each month at Nose Creek Valley Museum.

Outside the operating season, we try to maintain a strong presence within the community by attending occasional partner events, as well as ongoing maintenance and preparations for the 2024 season.

From mid-November to early-January, we ask directors to spend one or two evenings a week serving as a volunteer supervisor in the volunteer trailer, or as a night leader (getting lights on, trains out and running, providing change to venues, supervising parking, counting cash with another director(s) at the end of the evening, and dealing with any crises that might emerge). If possible, we also hope directors will contribute a few daytime hours a week on projects such as maintaining our website, handling inquiries from potential visitors, and maintaining light displays.

As a group, we directors enjoy working together and take a lot of pride in what we accomplish. We experience both the joys and frustrations together. And, for all of us, there is a lot of gratification in the many gushing compliments we get from visitors.

Ultimately, being a director is about the satisfaction that comes from taking on a really big challenge and succeeding much more often than we fail. That satisfaction comes not only from putting on the ‘show’, but from the significant contributions we make to the community. The Festival has contributed an estimated $5.5-million dollars’ worth of tangible benefits to the City, its residents, and its non-profit groups.

The Festival itself is a provincially chartered non-profit society. Our society has successfully staged 28 Festivals, every year since 1996. It serves the community and region by both entertaining and providing an affordable venue for families and friends to do something enjoyable together.

So, in becoming a Director of the Festival you’re doing much more than just putting on a show. You’re an integral and important part of building Airdrie into one of Canada’s best and brightest cities.

For more information, please contact:
Michelle Pirzek, Director
Airdrie Festival of Lights Society
info@airdrielights.com