Hackensack Sweetheart Days will ramp up Friday, July 4, and continue into the following week, but the annual event's future may be in danger.
Hackensack Chamber Executive Director Jean Dawson said a lack of volunteers threatens the event. Current organizers have been planning the event for years with no new volunteers.
"They have been volunteering for every event for years and years and years and years. And they're just burned out. Part of it is that some of the people that haven't been volunteering just aren't into that, consider themselves to be too busy to do that, or just the whole idea of volunteering is dying in respect to community events because people don't see the value of it. I don't know why they don't volunteer," Dawson said.
Event organizers considered cancelling the event this year, but settled for downsizing it, Dawson said.
"We cancelled the bouncy games. We tried other things. We've had a raffle. We've had a medallion hunt. We've had a treasure hunt. None of those things are happening. It just isn't fruitful," she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
It's also becoming difficult to plan for the event because Sweetheart Days don't get the crowds they once did, and it is hard to break even on all of the activities, Dawson said.
"They come in for the parade, then they go right home. We used to have a street dance, but between liquor law changes and people not wanting to be out, they just come in and go," she said.
Dawson said it is possible that without new volunteers there might not be a 2015 Sweetheart Days.
Following are this year's events:
Friday, July 4: Fireworks at dusk.
Saturday, July 5: Hackensack Fire Department barbecue dinner, 3 p.m., at the fire hall. Sunday, July 6: Lions community breakfast, 7:30-11:30 a.m., at the community building.
Tuesday, July 8: Weekly kids fishing contest, 11 a.m.; kids games hosted by the American Legion, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; parade, 6 p.m.
For information about volunteering for this or future events, contact the Hackensack Chamber of Commerce at (218) 675-6135.
