Community Festivals Can Educate

Although festivals may offer new educational opportunities, Extension educators should be selective about their involvement. They need to draw a clear distinction between their role as educators and service work. Even if the festival has strong educational goals, agents must decline tasks such as collecting or selling tickets, running food booths, or leading fund-raising activities. Otherwise, there's a danger the educational accomplishments will be overlooked. Likewise, Extension educators must, of course, avoid festivals that aren't accessible to the whole community, or are primarily commercial promotions.