Festival Morning — The Board
The Real Planning Board
Color-coded vendor maps, volunteer shifts, and the master list that saves a Saturday.
There's a pretty planning board on Pinterest and the real one — the chalkboard that lives in my garage and has seen every June street fair since 2018. It's not a mood board; it's a nervous system. Three columns, one master list, and a color that means trouble. Readable at a glance, or your festival is already late.
Three columns
The People
- Volunteer shifts, chalk-listed by the hour
- One "known nothing" per station — the person who's been here before
- Names, not roles — roles hide people
The Vendors
- Color dot = booth assignment (rust for food, gold for craft)
- Power and water needs taped at the corner
- The one no-show plan: the band tent always gets the corner
The Rain Plan
- Tucks a folded copy into a jean pocket — always
- Three triggers: gray sky, radar green, first drop
- The gate order flips; the music never cancels, it moves
The master list that saves a Saturday
June Fair — 90 minutes before gate
| Time | Check | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 6:30 | Tent poles & stakes counted twice | go |
| 6:45 | Chow-chow jar set at greens station | go |
| 7:00 | Volunteer sign-in open | go |
| 7:15 | Cornbread batter tasting-golden or remix | watch |
| 7:30 | Jazz trio soundcheck (chord chart taped to amp) | go |
| 7:45 | Rain plan pocket-card, both pockets | go |
| 8:00 | Gates, volunteers, grandmothers all in place | hold |
"Watch" means it gets a second look before 8. "Hold" means the whole list stops until one thing is fixed — usually the thing nobody wants to admit is broken.
What the board taught me
- Readable at a glance beats pretty. If a volunteer has to squint to find their shift, they'll check their phone instead and the foam will get cold.
- The list is a promise ledger. Every box checked is a promise a neighbor believed. The board is how I keep them.
- A festival is logistics wearing a smile. Nobody sees the chalkboard; everybody feels it. That's the whole trick — the invisible that makes the visible feel effortless.