Family-friendly focus pays off for Rutland May Days organizers

15,000 people turn out for fair that helps pay for renovations to hall

Fifteen thousand people, 42 parade floats and zero syringes.

That’s one way to gauge the success of this year’s Rutland May Days, the longrunning community celebration organized entirely by volunteers.

“I’m just out here on park cleanup today this morning, wearing my gloves, and I haven’t found any of the things we normally find in the park after a weekend,” Les Milton, president of the Rutland Park Society, said Monday, referring to drug paraphernalia.

The focus was squarely on familyfriendly fun at May Days, with live entertainment, vendors, a kid-friendly midway, a maypole dance and toddler’s play area.

“The community spirit that’s demonstrated at May Days is just incredible, and we have a hard-working, small group of volunteers that really go all out for a few weeks to organize the show,” Milton said.

Riven by dissension and in-fighting over the past year, the Rutland Park Society is now on a more stable footing with a new board of directors focused on undertaking renovations to the 50-yearold Rutland Centennial Hall.

Members of a previous board had ambitious plans to build a new facility from the ground up, but the new directors deemed that impractical as well as unnecessary.

“The hall is great for what the people of Rutland want it to be,” Milton said.

Upgrades completed so far include a new roof, flooring and sound system, with the next phase of improvements to feature air conditioning, a new kitchen, some decorative additions to the building’s exterior, additional meeting rooms for community use and an expanded daycare.

For next year’s May Days, plans already include more on-stage performers and possibly extending the hours of the beer garden, which was brought back on a trial basis this weekend.

“One reason the beer gardens went away for a while was the organizers didn’t think it fit in with a family event,” Milton said. “But we had no problems at all this year, so we might run it later next year.”