by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
Builders and alternative rock don’t usually mix, but they did at this year’s PlanetFest.
In an effort to gain new young recruits, members of the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Apprenticeship Training Program attended PlanetFest, an annual music festival organized by FM-107.3 and held in downtown Jacksonville.
“We wanted to get young people to come up there so we could talk to them about the apprenticeship program,” said Keith Ward, executive chairman of the Apprenticeship Program for NEFBA. “We wanted to generate interest in the construction industry, whether it’s electrical, carpentry, plumbing or heating and air.”
The organization set up a nail-driving contest to lure young rockers in. NEFBA supplied the hammers, nails and six-by-six boards participants used and there were about a dozen volunteers from the apprenticeship program and area construction companies including Thomas May Construction, Auld & White Construction, The Haskell Company, and Moore Electric.
NEFBA Apprenticeship Training Coordinator Thompson Taylor said it was a little exhausting — he had to preset the nails for the just under 500 people who stopped by the booth. The participants filled out waivers to participate, which were later used like raffle tickets for an guitar that was autographed by bands playing in the festival. The waivers will also be used to contact participants when it’s time to enroll in the appreticeship program.
“We were a little surprised (at the turnout),” said Taylor. “We heard from promoters and our marketing people that our booth was the most active.”
Ward said the booth was more well attended than some of the military branch booths. Ward, who is the vice president and project manager at Thomas May Construction, said there was a good pool of candidates who could potentially enter the apprenticeship program, although it won’t be known how many participate until the enrollment period in March and June.
Ward said he’s been to PlanetFest before, enjoys some of the music and had fun at the booth as well.
There were a couple of people there that were actually good swinging hammers, according to Ward, but they didn’t beat him.
“I can still drive a nail,” he said, and he added that there were a lot of young women who participated. “A lot of young women want to get into the construction industry and we are equal opportunity employers.”
“It was a great place to find our target range,” said Taylor, who saw a status of festival attendees from 16 to late 50s. “It really put us out there.”
The apprenticeship program is designed to educate and train individuals to become skill journeymen in the different facets of the construction industry. Those who qualify are hired to work for participating employers and also attend school two nights a week for four years. NEFBA provides on-the-job-training.
The Apprenticeship Training Program is more than 30 years old at NEFBA and many of its graduates have gone on to become local business owners and influential people in the construction industry, according to Ward.