Spring Jamboree: Year-long work on festival begins at end of annual two-day event

When last year’s Spring Jamboree ended, Chamber of Commerce CEO Jill Rowland-Lagan knew she had to start planning for this year’s festival.

Residents of Boulder City will look to enjoy the live music, vendors and other attractions of the city’s biggest spring event May 7 and 8 unaware of the yearlong process that keeps the wheels spinning

“A lot of people don’t know that this really is a one-year event,” Rowland-Lagan said. “As soon as we are done with this one we start planning for 2017.”

The organization for this year’s Spring Jam started before the last one even began. The process for making the event possible starts when the Chamber of Commerce begins creating applications for vendors and musicians.

“Live music and street vendors are an important part of the event,” Rowland-Lagan said. “Applicants don’t have to apply till November but we need to make sure we spread the word about signing up.”

After applications are complete, the Spring Jam committee meets every Monday starting in January until the event begins. The committee then goes through a long process of objectively looking at the pros and cons of the event. Everything is looked at from the layout of the event to the cleanup at the end.

“For months the committee meets up and looks at every aspect of Spring Jam,” Rowland-Lagan said. “We look at what went well, what didn’t, and how can we make next year’s event even better than the one before.” When the committee finishes its report, the Chamber of Commerce creates a to-do list on a long and extensive spreadsheet. This year’s to-do list contained over 700 items, with more to complete by the start of this year’s Spring Jam.

“The spreadsheet helps us organize every aspect of the event,” Rowland-Lagan said. “Every volunteer is given a task to complete and we need each task to be completed and color coded by the Friday before the event.” She has a team of 25 key volunteers who serve on the committee and help organize specific features of the event.

When everything has been organized the setup begins the Wednesday before Spring Jam. The city and chamber mark where everything is supposed to go throughout downtown’s four parks.

Friday morning before the event the equipment comes in and the Spring Jam layout becomes a reality.

That’s when Rowland-Lagan relies on the help of another 50 or so volunteers, who are there to make sure everything runs smoothly and assists with tasks such as operating the information booth, selling raffle tickets and cleaning up.

It is a really long process,” Rowland-Lagan said. “I don’t really get a chance to sit back and breathe until a week after Spring Jam.”

Contact reporter Max Lancaster@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow him on Twitter @MLancasterBCR.

2016 Spring Jamboree

■ Live music

■ Pan Dragger’s rod run car show

■ Rides, face painting and tattoos

■ Southern Nevada Gem and Mineral Society rock show

■ Climbing walls and train rides

■ Aerial Assault trampoline show

■ Antiques

■ Arts and crafts show

■ Food vendors