BRATTLEBORO — Strolling of the Heifers has announced its 2015 theme: “Love Your Farmer.”
The annual Strolling of the Heifers Parade takes place on Saturday, June 6, at 10 a.m. It is the centerpiece of a weekend full of events including a Friday, June 5 evening street festival, the 11-acre Slow Living Expo on parade day, and on Sunday, June 7, the Tour de Heifer dirt-road cycling rides, a Farmers Breakfast at The Marina, and a Farm Tour.
The mission of Strolling of the Heifers is “connecting people with healthy local food, encouraging and facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship in the farm/food sector, and supporting the development of stronger local food systems and healthy, sharing, connected and resilient communities."
Founder and executive director Orly Munzing said, “We've grown from a small-town parade and festival into an organization that has a year-round set of programs related to that mission. But if you take away everything else, it all comes down to just those three words, 'Love Your Farmer.'”
The “Love Your Farmer” graphic was designed by graphic designer Dan Munzing, and is featured on this year's Stroll poster, rack cards, web site and other materials.
Parade master Rick Chapin is asking all parade participants to reflect the theme in the design of their floats, or in their costumes and banners. For the first time, there will be a parade floats judging committee, with awards to be handed out to the most original, funniest and overall best floats.
Chapin is still looking for community organizations that want to participate in the parade by entering a float or marching unit. He urges anyone thinking of participating to be in touch with him, and to register as soon as possible - the registration deadline for parade units is May 10.
Chapin can be reached by email at rcbutternut@comcast.net or by phone at 802-257-9300. Online registration is via the registration tab in the top menu at www.strollingoftheheifers.com.
The organization is also still in urgent need of volunteers.
“We can't pull it off without a lot of effort by volunteers,” said Vicki Friedman, the Stroll's volunteer coordinator, “but it's very rewarding - everyone who comes to our events is in a great mood and they really appreciate all the things our volunteers do.”
Among other things, volunteers are needed for the following tasks: assistance at the registration table and other functions at the Slow Living Summit (June 3-5), Stroll merchandise sales on Friday evening, June 5, and all day Saturday June 6; parade crowd and traffic control; set-up and cleanup at most events; drivers of courtesy golf carts, “Zero Waste” recycling station monitors, and help with the Sunday, June 7 Tour de Heifer cycling event.
There are also volunteer tasks year-round at the Stroll's headquarters, the Robert H. Gibson River Garden.
Interested people can contact Friedman at 802-246-0982, or email her at strollvolunteers@gmail.com, or they can register on the Stroll's website, using the Registration tab in the top menu bar. Volunteer information is also available at the River Garden, where the Stroll's office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Community service credit can be provided for volunteer work.