EMPLOYMENT

The Maple Sugar Festival relies heavily on volunteer contributions to ensure its
success. As with most Festivals, budgets are minimal and there are few paid
positions. The Festival does, however, create some new employment in the
community. For 2004, one 38 week, full time contract position was created to
assume duties related exclusively to the Maple Sugar Festival. This new job
represents 1,330 hours of new employment within the community. The Festival
also hires a number of short term contractors to undertake a variety of specific tasks
related to the Festival. The short term contracts represent 1,560 hours of new
employment. The Festival also hires performers; however the majority of these are
from outside the community and only represent 15 hours of new employment to
the Nanaimo area.

There were 70 hours of overtime paid to the Festival Director that would not have
been paid out had the Festival not been held. These hours can be included in the
employment calculations. The Festival director’s normal hours are not included as
it is assumed that had the Festival not been held she would have received the same
salary doing other work for the Association francophone de Nanaimo. Similarly,
the hours of paid employment deployed by Port Theatre staff for the Saturday
evening concert cannot be counted as these employees were not hired specifically
for the Festival and would have continued with their duties had the Festival not
been held.

In total, 2,975 person hours or 425 person days of new paid employment were
directly created in the Nanaimo area as a result of the Maple Sugar Festival.

VOLUNTEERS

While the dollar value of volunteer time cannot be tabulated in economic impact
calculations, the impact of volunteerism in the cultural sector cannot be ignored.
Without the contribution of volunteers, festivals such as this one would not be
possible. In addition to contributing to the ongoing success and growth of this
cultural event, volunteers have an economic impact on the community. Without
their contributions, visitors would not come to Nanaimo in the winter and spend
their dollars in the local economy. The businesses benefit, as do the residents of the
community.

In order to better understand and recognize the total impact of volunteer
contributions, we have attached a dollar value to these contributions. This edition
of the Maple Sugar Festival required 5,000 hours of volunteer time. Such volunteer
contributions, deemed necessary to organize and hold the event, are conservatively

daple Sugar Festion! 2004.4 study of cconoinic aud sou-economic linpacts on tre Nanaimo area 23