Parking Cars for Fun and Profit at A.B.E.

During our very busy Labor Day weekend my wife Dawne and I managed to put in a few hours of volunteer time at the Arts, Beats & Eats festival in downtown Royal Oak.

We were among a few hundred volunteers assigned to the various official event parking lots scattered around town but mostly in the downtown area. The volunteer parking program was managed for the second year in a row by our good friends Patty and Jay Dunstan who put countless hours of their time and expert skills into this project. Through their website www.volunteerroyaloak.org, they coordinated, scheduled and communicated with all the volunteers and groups. Various clubs, charities and organizations earned money based on how many hours were worked by the volunteers.

Our assigned lot was Third Street and Wiliiams behind Rock on 3rd. With about 50 spaces available for cars, the lot quickly filled up at $15 per car and as one car left we usually had another ready to take its spot. Dawne handled the cash as the festival attendees entered off Fourth Street and my job was to give them their receipt ticket as I pointed them to the next available slot. During much of our shifts ( Saturday night and Monday nights ) we had to place the LOT FULL sign on the A-frame at our entrance and changed it to the $15 per car sign as a space became open. A flagger stationed at the exit on Third Street directed the cars as they left.

Most of the patrons were polite even as they grumbled about the price, but Dawne smiled as she explained that most of the lots in downtown were at least that price and that we were working for charity. We noticed a few private lots were higher priced. Festival attendees could save a few bucks by parking at the high school for $10 and take a shuttle to the event. Based on our drive by on Monday afternoon they were doing a brisk business as well.   

Among the groups that benefited from the parking were Honor Flight of Michigan, The Boys & Girls Club, Royal Oak High School athletics programs and the Royal Oak Optimist Club, whom we represented. The City of Royal Oak also gets its fair share of the proceeds and the Arts, Beats & Eats festival should continue to provide many fundraising opportunities in the future.

In spite of the heat wave on Friday and Saturday and the big storm of Saturday night, the cars kept arriving to take in the art fair, the music and the food. For us, the people watching made the whole effort a lot of fun. Families, couples and individuals represented the rich cultural diversity of our metro area and most seemed to have a good time. We did too.