2023-08-20 07:05:00
Serving galettes, pancakes and cider, welcoming artists, presenting Breton games… The volunteers of the Lorient Interceltic Festival are on all fronts. For this record year in terms of attendance – 950,000 visitors spread over the 9 days – they really carried the traditional Celtic gathering, organized from August 4 to 13.
“Without them, there would be no festival. Or else the costs would explode because we have two volunteers for one employee, ”says Delphine Margerie, 41, vice-president of the event. First French urban music festival, organized in the heart of Lorient, it is accessible free of charge.
Only certain areas are open to visitors with a 7 euro badge. If the cost is modest, it is above all thanks to the 1,642 good souls spread over 80 departments. “500 volunteers are in badge control and 340 work in the bars. These are the two poles that recruit the most, ”says Régine Barbot, 63, their referent.
Many have become regulars
What do these volunteers earn? “They receive two tickets for the Celtic Horizons show, a festival t-shirt, a support badge as well as a meal and three drinks a day,” lists the sixty-year-old meticulously. And all assure it, they do not engage for remuneration, but for pleasure. In fact, many have become regulars.
Abel Jabry, 71 (centre), here with Régine Barbot (left) and Delphine Margerie, has thirty-six years of volunteering behind him. LP/Joanna Blain
“42% have been coming back every year for at least five years! exclaims Régine, herself a volunteer since 2015. This is Abel Jabry, 71 years old. He greets Delphine and Régine, whom he knows well, before settling down at the table with the two women. With thirty-six years of voluntary work behind him, this enthusiast of Breton culture has become an expert in the field.
Born in Morocco, the sprightly septuagenarian fell in love with Celtic culture shortly following arriving in Brittany with his parents. “When I went to a fest-noz for the first time, I was 12 years old. A young girl then took me by the hand to explain the Breton dance to me. Since then, I have never left the Celtic festivals! exclaims the man who has dedicated his life to Breton music.
For this enthusiast, who created a bagad and a fest-noz in Châteaugiron (Ille-et-Vilaine), helping the festival was obvious. “I started by feeding the artists: Hugues Aufray, Carlos Nuñez, Gilles Servat… Then, I became master of time”, smiles this inveterate volunteer.
For Abel, “master of time” means welcoming the pros of the Jean-Pierre Pichard scene and organizing their performance, so that the show takes place on time. “Today, I took thirty seconds too long. Instead of finishing at 5:05 p.m., we finished at 5:06 p.m. ”, exclaims the septuagenarian. His meticulousness makes Delphine and Régine smile.
A family matter
Because volunteering also forges friendships. And it is not Martine, in post for ten years at the same bar, in the garden of Luthiers, who will say the opposite. Tattoos on her arms, auburn hair and a big smile, this septuagenarian, also a volunteer speaker for an association dedicated to sidecars, considers the Interceltique as her “pleasure break”.
She does not hesitate to drive two hours a day to be there. For the past two years, she has been meeting Dominique, a 67-year-old retiree, there. “When I came back to live here, I decided to live my cultural identity to the full. I have been learning Breton for three years! he says between two sodas served to dehydrated visitors.
Denis Le Mentec has been a volunteer for 33 years and has involved his whole family in volunteering. LP/Joanna Blain
If getting involved here results from an attraction for Celtic culture, it is also very often a family affair. Denis Le Mentec, volunteer for thirty-three years, knows something regarding it. Over the years, he watched his children, and then his grandchildren, contribute to the local gathering.
“As I am a poor artist, I might neither dance nor sing to defend my culture. So I did what I knew best: logistics, ”explains this 62-year-old former shipbuilding engineer. Having started in badge control, Denis rose through the ranks to become vice-president in charge of security.
A few meters away, his son Yannick, responsible for the Breton games, settles under an arbor to take his lunch break. “I’ve been a volunteer since I was born,” he laughs. As soon as I was able to help, I did. I manned barriers, set up stages, was a standard bearer during the big parade…” An edition of the Interceltic Festival without these philanthropists? “Without them, concludes Denis, the event would lose its soul. »
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