Meet Doug Harris
October’s Volunteer of the Month
Volunteers are very legitimately the back bone of Home County. We are incredibly thankful for the massive number of people who give up their time to help us put on the Festival. Each month, we want to take the time to honour these amazing people.
Doug Harris is, quite simply, THE MAN. For the last 22 years, Doug has been taking time off work and dedicating himself to working incredibly hard, behind the scenes, to make sure that the Home County Music & Art Festival is a success. It was difficult to find a picture of Doug because he is always on the move - from 7:30a until well past midnight.
In these 22 years, Doug has done it all - except maybe performing. For the first 14 years, he handled set up and tear down and the mounds of garbage. For the last 8 years, Doug has served as a Site Coordinator. His knowledge of what it takes to put on the Festival is truly unparalleled. While our Home County goers are enjoying the weekend, Doug has already coordinated the park setup, put up tents, set up lights, troubleshot issues for our vendors and collected garbage. Each night after the music ends, Doug is still hard at work bringing in lights, tables, chairs and anything else that can't be left in the Park overnight. When the Festival ends, Doug is back at the Park packing everything up and unloading it all into our storage locker. He is truly invaluable.
Doug moved to London from Montreal in 1995. He first volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and did 5 house builds with them. At the same time he was attending local festivals and decided to volunteer there. Since then, he's volunteered not only for us for 22 years - but with Bluesfest for 13 years.
We asked Doug what his favourite part of volunteering at Home County is. He said, "My favorite part of being a volunteer with HC is seeing the familiar faces I already know and meeting new people (volunteers). I also enjoy the work I have to do as it gives me a break from my regular job."
We also asked him for his most memorable moment and of course...it involved rain! Doug said taking down the old wooden stages in the rain was the most memorable.
Our most memorable moment with Doug? Hands down, it was watching him take a massive storage locker and somehow managing to fit all of into one cube van. We all would have lost a lot of money on a bet if he could make it happen. In Doug's quiet way, he would just smile and say 'don't worry, it's all going to fit.' And he was of course right.
Thank you Doug Harris for dedicating SO much of your time and energy to Home County. We are incredibly grateful.