Music and community are coming together to help an injured rodeo athlete facing a tough road ahead.
The Twin Cities Saloon in Longview is hosting the Sandy Strong benefit concert and silent auction on March 12 to help raise funds for Sandy Cooper-Black, a 16-year-old cowboy from Consul, Sask. who suffered a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury after being bucked off a bronco at a rodeo in Brooks.
“I used to live in Longview and the Twin Cities Saloon was right across the street so we definitely frequented it,” said event organizer Kendel Kinahan. “It’s one of those places that’s come to feel like home and we were there one day and were talking about my husband (Don)’s cousin Sandy, who the benefit is for, just brainstorming and thinking what can we do to help?
“Don came up with the idea that we should have a little benefit show for Sandy.”
Cooper-Black, who sustained the injury on Dec. 30, has been making steady progress at the spinal recovery wing of the Calgary Foothills hospital.
A Feb. 8 update to the GoFundMe page ‘Sandy Cooper’s Fight for Recovery’ states Cooper-Black has been making daily improvements and has gained some movement in his legs and in a few of his fingers. The GoFundMe has raised over $116,000 of its stated goal of $150,000 thus far.
“There’s nothing that can really prepare you for that and Sandy is only 16,” Kinahan said. “There’s a lot of questions up in the air, but he’s just so full of fight and spark.
“He’s a really good kid and I think he’s shocked a lot of the doctors at the hospital just with his improvements already. We’re very proud of him and just want to keep supporting him.”
Tickets for Sandy Strong will be made available online on March 1 with Kinahan indicating they will likely sell out in minutes given the overwhelming response they’ve received so far.
“The idea initially was to make it an all day event and people would come and go,” she said. “But we quickly realized that people would just want to come and stay.”
The all-day music festival will be headlined by Saskatchewan country star Colter Wall with performances from Alberta Country Music Award winner Ryan Lindsay, Manitoba songwriter Richard Inmam, Boots Graham, Carter Felker, Ole Man Kidd, Kevin Peters and Don Kinahan.
Silent auction items will include concert tickets, artwork and western garb, to name just a few.
For more information on the event go to facebook.com/LongviewTwinCitiesSaloon/ or visit twincitieshotel.ca.
