With summer fast approaching, the excitement surrounding the 40th Annual Festival of India (Ratha-Yatra) is growing as each day passes! The Festival will be taking place on July 14th-15th, 2012! Unique to this festival is the seamless integration of thousands of years of spiritual tradition with modern day lifestyles. Close to 40,000 people participate every year in this two-day festival which aims to both inform and entertain utilizing yoga, spirituality, music, dance and arts.
Known as the largest of its kind in North America, Toronto’s Festival of India kicks off with a colourful parade down Yonge Street with three 40-foot tall floats which are hand-pulled by thousands of participants amidst drumming, chanting and dancing. The main festival then takes place, for the remainder of the weekend, on beautiful Centre Island where attractions include:
• A Free Vegetarian Feast
• A Non-Stop Arts & Culture Showcase
• A One-Day Yoga Festival – “Yoga Meltdown”
• South Asian Bazaar (Marketplace)
• Spiritual Exhibits, Drama and much more!
We are actively seeking energetic and enthusiastic volunteers to help us in the following areas:
• Attending events across the GTA to help promote the festival
• Putting up posters and handing out cards across the GTA
• Greeting, coordinating and helping the public during the festival
• Festival Setup and post-festival take-down
• Coordination and stagehand help for the entertainment program
• Crowd control during our colourful parade down Yonge Street
The Festival of India presents a great opportunity for you to pick up valuable skills in areas like event management and organizational development, not to mention the fact that you are sure to develop some new creative skills and meet some great people! Most importantly, we try to deliver an enriching and fun-filled experience for our volunteers to ensure an overall enjoyable time!
If you are interested in signing up as an official volunteer for the 40th Annual Festival of India, please visit http://www.festivalofindia.ca/ to sign up and one of our friendly Volunteer Coordinators will be in touch with you.