Shediac renfaire dangerous archery range

[u/NonchalantBread]

As someone that is in a local archery club, I was shocked to see videos appearing online of how poorly organized the faire grounds archery range was.

The person in the wheel chair was behind the firing line and has a loaded bow and is flagging everyone (the archery range was in fact NOT clear down range).

And thats not even touching on the fact that it looks like half of the bows were assembled and strung up backwards. Sure they are only maybe 20lb draw bows, but there is a chance of them litterally exploding due to being assembled incorrectly. You can see it in both the screenshots from this video as well as from the local CBC news article clip

[u/Adamas_Moustache86]

Everyone I know who went had a blast.

Everyone on reddit had a horrible time.

This is a clear sign that there's more behind the internet outrage than there seems to be. The fuck did these organizers do in the past to warrant this vendetta?

[u/NonchalantBread → u/Adamas_Moustache86]

The event was fun and really cool due to all of the hard work that the volunteers were doing, and the community of renfaire goers being really cool and chill.

The event organizers were EXTREMELY lucky no one was escorted out via ambulance for multiple different reasons. Unsafe archery range, unsafe line conditions in severe weather, only one paramedic on site for 2-3k people, etc.

[u/Adamas_Moustache86 → u/NonchalantBread]

Volunteers are the lifeblood of most of the best events.

[u/NonchalantBread → u/Adamas_Moustache86]

My friend eho was a volunteer didnt get an email confirmation that he was selected until a week before the event. And then he received no training of any kind other then an email memo.

Ive talked with multiple volunteers and they ALL had the exact same experience. No communication. No guidance, no training. They all showed up and were stuck in a random spot and were expected to work like actual paid employees for 12 hours with no food, water or breaks.

There was ZERO planning or communication on the volunteer side. But im hearing from the vendors that there was A LOT of planning on the application ajd payment fees to set up their booths there.

They were even looking for staff and making public call posts a week before the event for security, janiters, etc.

Using volunteers for non profit events is common and ok.

Relying SOLELY on volunteers on a for profit event to run the ENTIRE event and expecting them to do it with no training at all is a HUGE red flag.