All proceeds from Sunday’s events went to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, but it was the 100-mile motorcycle ride and country music concert that drew people in.
“This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had for this event,” Willie 103.5’s Jay Michaels told the thousands in the audience before headliner Billy Currington took the stage last night.
Mike Loher, event entertainment director and founding committee member, estimated that 3,000 people attended the country concert. While the funds raised for St. Jude are still be tallied, Loher said, “We did more than double on what we did last year with the amount of money raised.”
Lines started at 3:30 p.m. for the fifth annual “A Day at the Lake for the Children of St. Jude” concert at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds, though the opening act wasn’t scheduled to start for a few more hours.
The grandstand opened at 5 p.m., with the National Guard and national anthem slated for 5:50 p.m. Daren and Maierle Cheaney sang the national anthem.
Allan & Ashcraft went on stage about 6 p.m., with country musician Phil Vassar at approximately 6:45 p.m.
Allan Craig Miller is from Huntington, Ind., and Hubie Ashcraft is from Fort Wayne. Both are singers and songwriters, according to their official website.
Vassar arrived at the Warsaw airport about two hours before going on stage. He flew in on the Tennessee Titans’ jet after being there for their football game.
Headliner Billy Currington took the stage around 9 p.m., about a half hour later than scheduled, but his fans didn’t care once he started. He performed for more than 90 minutes.
Loher said the event to benefit St. Jude started “because we want to utilize the fairgrounds more than one week out of the year and for the kids.”
In its first year, the music act was “American Idol” sixth season contestant Phil Stacey. Each year since then, the event has grown and the acts have gotten bigger.
“Once artists find out about the event, they are willing to work with us on pricing and routing,” Loher said. “The people here are having a great time. The people not here, they are missing something awesome.”
Each year, more people are becoming aware of the event and are attending, he said.
Many people volunteer or donate money or supplies to make the event happen and raise money for St. Jude, Loher said. Local companies donated everything from excavating and electrical to mechanical work for the concert.
Asked how many sponsors contributed to the benefit concert, Loher said “multiple.” A quick count of a list put the number at more than 50.
FreightCo. is one of the many sponsors. Its president, Brad McDonald, said, “We don’t do it for the advertising or anything, we do it for the cause.”
While Loher said they won’t know the total raised for a couple days, he said each year the goal is to raise the attendance and the money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
For those who made it to the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds before the big concert, there were other activities to partake in.
The motorcycle “Ride For Research” started at 11 a.m. Sunday. According to co-organizer Michelle Snyder, 240 bikers took part this year, raising $5,900 for St. Jude’s from the bike ride alone.
Snyder has organized the ride for the last three years. She said they had a total of 119 riders last year.
“We went way over this year,” she happily stated.
The ride started at the fairgrounds to Old 30, then to Ind. 5 to South Whitley, headed to Salamonie Reservoir and then to Brandt’s Harley-Davidson, Wabash.
Brandt’s, Everest Excavating LLC and Silver Lake Pro Hardware provided 100 percent of the funding for the ride so money from the St. Jude fund did not have to be used.
For the ride back, bikers went through Manchester, took Packerton Road and returned to the fairgrounds.
This was the third year for the ride.
“It’s grown tremendously,” said co-organizer Doug Kopis. “It caught us a little off guard this year.”
Gates for the kids’ activities and vendors opened at noon and were available until 3 p.m.
Mel’s Pony Rides & Petting Zoo out of Pierceton was popular, as was the Boot Camp Challenge provided by the Army National Guard. The challenge was a giant inflatable obstacle course some children kept going through until their parents had to tell them they were done.
Echoes of the Past had tractors on display, while ML Motorsports had Johanna Long’s No. 70 car out for show.
Vendors sold Western hats, wood-fried pizzas, funnel cakes, lemon shakeups, elephant ears and cotton candy.
McDonald’s had a booth, with special guests Grimace and Hamburglar. Everyone won a prize – from desserts to kid’s meals.
Safe Assured Child ID Kits were available to parents in the Home & Family Arts Building who wanted to keep their kids safe.
Raffle tickets were available all day for purchase, with all proceeds going to St. Jude. The winners were announced before Currington took the stage.
Loher concluded, “It’s exciting to see all this going on out here outside of the fair. This is the only venue like it in the state of Indiana. We just want to continue to expand our entertainment.”
