Local musicians are hoping to provide a big lift at Foxy’s Bar and Grill in Okotoks on Saturday night.
The pub on Milligan Drive is presenting three bands including Rollin’ Thunder, Puttin’OnTheFoil and the JP Project in a show for the Give a Kid a Lift campaign.
“Canwest Elevators is doing this thing where they give away an elevator once a year to someone who needs one in their home,” said Kevin Rowland, a member of Rollin’ Thunder and the coordinator of the event. “Easter Seals is a part of it and the bands are coming out to raise money to help keep the program going.”
Give a Kid a Lift is fairly new and it has only awarded the construction of one elevator so far. It’s going to 19-year-old Calgarian Lorinda Bye. She became a paraplegic in the summer of 2009 when she was struck buy a windblown tree while in a tent on a camping trip. Paralyzed from the waist down she depends on a wheelchair to get herself around. Bye will be at the concert in Okotoks on March 26 to tell her story and build awareness of the Give a Kid a Lift project.
Andrew Smith, manager of Canwest Elevators and Lifts, said the charity’s title does not mean there is an age restriction on the program.
“The name was chosen with the understanding that everybody is somebody’s kid,” he said. “There are no age criteria. People apply to Alberta Easter Seals and they are the one’s that administer the program.”
Smith said he is hoping continued fundraising efforts will allow his company and Easter Seals to quickly expand their efforts.
“We’d like to give away at least one elevator a year and we’re hoping to implement this in the Edmonton area as well,” he said.
Having Canwest offices in both Calgary and Edmonton, Smith explained the company would like to quickly get to the point where they can give an elevator away in each of the cities or their surrounding areas each year.
A positive step in that direction would be a packed house at Foxy’s on March 26. The admission cost for the concert is only $15 and Rowland said there will be more than just music at the event.
“There’s going to lots of great stuff,” he said. “We’re going to get some silent auctions going and there will be an event T-shirt people can buy.”
The participating bands all play tunes from the country rock and classic rock genres and will surely get people up on the dance floor.
Rowland said he immediately saw Foxy’s Bar and Grill as the right Okotoks venue for the event due to the success of the Sunday live music jams at the pub.
“The jams have been going well,” he said. “The last one we held was great. It was the best one we had since we started there. We had some people who came out from the south side of Calgary to be a part of it.”
With the right venue and the right cause, Rowland said he and Smith are hoping for big things from the local Give a Kid a Lift show.
“We’re hoping to raise at least $1,500,” he said.
Tickets are available in advance and at the door Saturday at Foxy’s Bar and Grill on Milligan Drive across the street from the Okotoks Recreation Centre. The event will go from 6 p.m. to midnight.
