LCH Community Pledge
Stephanie Kelley
Last year, Francine St Amand and her son Luke had such a blast at the 2013 Larlee Creek Hullabaloo 
that they wanted to find a way to introduce the fabulousness of this music festival to more local people.
Some people grumble about the price of tickets, even though the Hullabaloo is a three day music extravaganza that features the very best East Coast Musicians and you get a whole lotta music for just $63 for a weekend pass.
Francine and Luke undertook a pledge to toss $2.50 a week each into a big jar until the 2014 Hullabaloo. The money in the jar would be used to buy festival tickets for people who had never been to the festival before.
Well, time has slipped by at the speed of light and the 2014 Hullabaloo is here again! When they counted the money in the jar, Francine and Luke found they had saved up $260, enough dough to buy 4 tickets to the festival.
When they contacted Festival Chairman Heidi Baird to let her know the good news, Heidi promptly pledged to match them, and is donating 4 tickets as well.
So 8 lucky people will get to attend the Hullabaloo for the first time ever this year. And what a great show it promises to be!
In addition to an astonishing array and variety of musical talent, the show headliners this year are Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. The guys who make up the band first got together in 1996, and have since received one Juno award and several Juno nominations. This group has evolved into one of the finest roots-oriented bands in North America.
All of the band members have flourishing solo careers as well, and guitarist Colin Linden landed his dream job last year when Bob Dylan called him up and asked him to play. He’s been on tour all this summer with Dylan as part of the Americanarama Tour.
And now, you can hear him play in Perth-Andover on August 16th!
This is the seventh year for the Larlee Creek Hullabaloo in the community. The mandate of the LCH is to give back to the community whenever and wherever possible.
The Larlee Creek Hullabaloo is good for local business…. This year’s festival will pump at least $20,000 into the local economy through the purchase of products and services such as tent rentals, accommodations, food, transportation and so on.
The event also attracts hundreds of tourists to the area who will help to further boost our local economy.
The LCH promotes over 30 local businesses who partner with the event as well as offering free vending opportunities to local businesses and artisans.
This unique music festival promotes the arts in our community, where few other artistic opportunities exist. Each year, the LCH hosts “Future Star” auditions for local youth to win performance spots during the festival. Emerging and professional artists with roots in our community are also included in the programming each year.
The LCH is also heavily invested in helping to support local music programs through donations to purchase instruments, hosting live musical performances in our schools, and through partnerships to host School Music Camps.
Organizers also worked with local schools to develop opportunities for students to get involved with and attend the festival, with students helping to co-ordinate children’s activities during the festival.
The Larlee Creek Hullabaloo is totally volunteer supported and run, with just one paid position for a local student who is hired through the Canada Summer Students Program.
Everyone else who organizes this event, a group of more than 80 volunteers, donates thousands of hours of their time to bring something truly special to our community!
In fact, the Hullabaloo Crew could still use a few more volunteers, and if you sign up to help out you get to see the show for free.
During the weekend of this event this year , the LCH will present multiple free local shows including one show at the Perth-Andover Public Library, two community workshops on song writing and guitar, all Sunday programming at the Larlee Creek Baptist Church and multiple surprise performances around the village that could happen anywhere at any time….you just have to be in the right place at the right time to catch the show!
