Wild in Wilton canceled
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
For the first time since its creation, the annual Wild in Wilton fundraiser has been canceled, with park board members citing that there is too much work for the small group of volunteers.
“We’re just not ready,” Lisa Jenkins said during an emergency meeting of the Wilton Park Board last week. The board met on the evening of May 23 to determine if it was feasible to put on the event again or if it was best to pull the plug.
Earlier this year, the board put out a tentative schedule for Wild in Wilton, which is an annual fundraiser for the park board held each June for approximately the last 12 years. The schedule trimmed the traditionally two-day-long event down to one day, June 16. But after a month of further consideration, the board was unsure if even a one-day event would be manageable with the small crew.
“We’re all volunteers and we all have full-time jobs and it just slipped away,” Board member Nicole Schurhamer said.
Jenkins said several board members have recently started new jobs, with one member undergoing surgery this month and one member still to be determined by the June election. The board said it had regular volunteers -- like spouses and local students -- that helped out with the event, but that it was still a challenge to organize.
Board members emphasized that they had no hard feelings about the situation, but that they simply felt overwhelmed with the task this year.
