When the Special Olympics Family Festival started in Mattoon back in 1984, the event hosted just a few hundred athletes and volunteers.
The festival now hosts more than 450 athletes and over a thousand volunteers.
"The Special Olympics Family Festival is a time where our athletes can try all of our sport-like events, but also have fun games and activites like face painting and entertainment opportunities like Elvis coming. Enjoy sports, and try new sports and then really getting that reward of feeling accomplished at the end of the day." said Illinois Special Olympics Assistant Director Vanessa Duncan.
One volunteer opportunity that organizers are looking to fill is being a "Friend for a Day".
"So the athlete would come in, and then you get paired with a friend for a day. So what you do is you hang out with them all day, go play the carnival games, get lunch. Basically just hang out and make sure they have a good time." said Special Olympics Family Fun Festival Manpower Comittee Chair John Olmsted.
The fun kicks off on Saturday, September 21st at Lake Land College.
An opening ceremony and parade starts at 10:00, with games and entertainment getting underway at 11:00.
To volunteer, you can show up at the event, or visit https://soill.volunteerhub.com/vv2/lp/soff/.