Linda Butler - Correspondent | Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:10 am
Strawberry Days is a week of exciting and fun events that celebrate the community. Not only do members of the Pleasant Grove community have the opportunity to play together during Strawberry Days, there are hundreds of people who enjoy the satisfaction of working together to make Strawberry Days a great celebration.
"One of the neat things about Strawberry Days is all the volunteers," said volunteer Scott Fugal, who is in charge of Strawberry Days concessions. "It's amazing to see the community pull together and pull off this massive event. It couldn't be done without the support of the community."
Fugal estimates that it takes about 200 volunteers per day to work Strawberry Days. A very strong presence is the young people who volunteer at Strawberry Days through their involvement in Youth Court/Council. The 54 members of Youth Court/Council are local youth aged 13-18. Lisa Young, an advisor, briefly explained the purpose of Youth Court/Council: "It's government under the Attorney General's Office. We try most misdemeanor crimes committed by juveniles in Pleasant Grove. In addition, we do lots of service," she said.
The Youth Court/Council students are involved in community projects throughout the year, but Strawberry Days takes their most concentrated effort. They are involved with many of the events, including cleaning and preparing the rodeo grounds for the popular PRCA Rodeo. They clean, prepare and serve complimentary cups of strawberries to guests at the Tuesday evening community concert. They also are involved with many Strawberry Days' children's events, including the Baby Contest and Huck Finn Days.
The Youth Court/Council's biggest responsibility is the Saturday morning Mammoth Parade. "Youth Court has helped with the parade for about 14 years, and they've run it for nine years. Before that it was run by city employees," Young said.
Danelle Shrader has been a member of Youth Court/Council and a volunteer at Strawberry Days for the past three years. She enjoys the service she gives at Strawberry Days. She likes serving strawberries at the evening concert.
"It's fun to see everyone in the city, you always see your neighbors," she said. The court's largest responsibility is organizing the parade. "It's a big responsibility, it's cool that the youth can pull it off," she said. With a chuckle she continued, "It makes me feel in charge and powerful to ask someone to move their great big float."