Hi from Ottawa,

I'm chiming in a bit late but thought I'd share some ideas from our local contra dance.

We're a pretty big dance (attendance approx. 100-110 per evening).

We let the following people in for free:

-Floor manager (overseeing the whole night)

-Sound volunteer (helps our sound man with set up and tear down)

-One other volunteer that helps with set up and tear down.

All other volunteers pay for entry.  This includes:

-All board/committee members

-Volunteer responsible for snacks

-Volunteers who welcome/help make sure shoes are clean (issue at our hall)

-Door/entry volunteers (2 people from 7-8pm, 2 people for dances 1-2, 2 people for dances 3-4, 2 people for dances 5-6)

-Others who help with tear down

We recognize volunteers in a few ways:

-Announcements from the mic

-One free dance with local talent in May at the end of our season.  Others can attend but they pay.  Special snacks.

I think there's so many other cool ways that volunteers could be recognized too...

-website

-thank yous in eblasts, maybe the odd feature of a volunteer

Emily in Ottawa