Special Events

How to Apply

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• Help volunteer at one of the many events hosted at Indiana Dunes
• Greet visitors and assist with interpretation, all while celebrating our park's natural and cultural resources
• Get experience in outreach, communication, and education

 

Earth Day Volunteers

Credit: Paul Kemiel/NPS Volunteer

April

Earth Day Park Cleanup
(National Service Day)

Indiana Dunes Trash Trekkers Earth Day Cleanup is sponsored by the Friends of Indiana Dunes, Indiana Dunes Tourism and the Park. Family, friends, neighbors, and park employees join forces during national volunteer week to collect a winter’s worth of trash and debris from roadsides, beaches, the Little Calumet River, and trails of Indiana Dunes Country to help beautify the Parks and make the region a cleaner place to live. Participating in the cleanup is a great way to take pride in your community, celebrate the spring, and enjoy your National Park.

 

Volunteers working at the Maple Sugar Time Festival

March

Maple Sugar Festival

Come volunteer and enjoy the spring at Indiana Dunes National Park's annual Maple Sugar Time festival. Help with ranger-led tours of the sugaring operation at historic Chellberg Farm. Help educate visitors how American Indians first boiled maple sap into sugar and how early settlers used large iron kettles to make syrup. Assist at the sugar shack where sap is boiled down the way the Chellberg family did it back in the 1930s. Drill tap holes, lug sap buckets using an old-fashioned yoke or help in farm house cooking recipes featuring maple syrup.

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Tour Volunteers

Credit: Paul Kemiel/NPS Volunteer

May

Logs to Lustrons

Volunteer and be part of a very special tour of architecturally significant homes in and around the Indiana Dunes National Park. The tours are sponsored by Indiana Landmarks and the National Park Service. Included on the tour are two Swedish historical homes: the Gust Lindstrom house and the restored Oscar/Irene Nelson site, two prefabricated enameled steel Lustron houses, the House of Tomorrow home from the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair, and several architect-designed mid-century houses.

 

Century of Progress Tour Volunteers

Credit: Paul Kemiel/NPS Volunteer

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September

Century of Progress Tours

Help National Park Service rangers give tours of five historic homes from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Get a close-up look at these amazing homes, which are not open to the public except for these tours. Help guide visitors and offer support to rangers while learning about the history of these special places.

 

NPLD volunteers cleaning a park beach

National Public Lands Day
(National Service Day)

Celebrate National Public Lands Day by giving back to your local national park! Join park staff at West Beach to remove a summer's worth of litter. Volunteers receive a fee-free coupon that grants single-day entry to ALL public federal lands. There's no better way to show your appreciation for this beautiful resource than by participating in its protection.

 

Volunteer Resources & Documents

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For any questions, contact the volunteer program office by calling [phone] or sending us an email. For emergencies, please call 1-800-PARK-TIP (1-800-727-5847).