Spirits were lifted Friday afternoon at the Sahali Mall parking lot in Kamloops when multiple organizations hosted a BCWildHeart Tailgate Party and Fundraiser.
Live performances by local bands Bees and the Bare Bones, Shattered Blue and the Dave Coalmine Band had the crowd of roughly 300 people out of their chairs and dancing the afternoon away.
VIDEO: The Dave Coalmine Band performs Friday afternoon at Sahali Mall during a BCWildHeart Tailgate Party and Fundraiser for communities evacuated by wildfires.
And, to top it all off, Tim Bell, vice-president of Arrow Transportations Inc. in Kamloops - the catalyst behind organizing the event - said $300,000 was raised to be distributed between the communities evacuated due to the wildfire crisis.
“This all came together very quickly,” Bell told the Tribune, adding eight Arrow employees from Williams Lake were evacuated to Kamloops when the order was dropped.
“Completely spur of the moment. We came up with the idea on Monday morning and called our corporate friends and now we’ve raised more than $200,000 and another $100,000 through local businesses and the public in local communities.”
He said the idea behind the tailgate party was to allow the community and evacuees to listen to some music while forgetting their worries for a little while in order to raise funds for the communities affected.
“The good thing about this is we get to decide where the money is going to go - Williams Lake, 100 Mile and the Cariboo communities,” Bell said, noting the evacuations have also had a significant impact on his own company as trucks aren’t able to pass through several of the closed highways in the province.
“We’ve been impacted a lot but still wanted to help out our individuals and businesses.”
Bell said he was born in Williams Lake, so the Cariboo has a special place in his heart and he wanted to help out in any way he could.
The event also provided free food to guests, and Bell thanked the many volunteers who helped make the event possible.
“We’re all connected with the business community and this disaster has made a huge impact in a very short amount of time, so anything we could do to help out we were all for it.”
Sadie Hunter, director of development with the faculty of science and school of nursing at Thompson Rivers University, also addressed the audience.
Hunter was all packed up and ready to leave with her husband on their honeymoon, but made the decision to postpone the trip so she could stay behind to volunteer with relief efforts.
“You’re all thanking us,” she said to the crowd in attendance. “But evacuees are volunteering with us so, on behalf of all of the volunteers, thank you.”
Other local business who helped sponsor the event included Scotiabank, Fountain TIre, Kamloops This Week, Kal TIre, Trimac, Tycrop Trailers, Western Star Freightliner, Peterbilt, SMS Equipjent, Chevron and Inland Kenworth.