Volunteers are a vital human resource for events and this paper evaluates approaches to their recruitment and selection. Taking a comparative organisational methodology, data is presented from qualitative interviews with organisers of twelve reoccurring festivals in Victoria, Australia. The analysis demonstrates that event organisers need to encourage bounce-back from past episodic volunteers through a combination of appreciation and rewards. New operational volunteers come from two sources: individuals in the local community largely recruited informally through word of mouth; and outsourced recruitment of groups of volunteers. The latter can strengthen relationships with a festival’s community and other stakeholders, including sponsors. Unlike mega-events, little selection of volunteers takes place at these reoccurring events. Any screening of individuals is largely informal, unless in roles working directly with children. Examples are included of events thinking creatively about ways of diversifying their volunteer base and increasing formalisation of their volunteer management.