SOUTH SURREY - James Cousineau's acreage here will be a gathering place for fans of country music this weekend.
The inaugural "Bands, BBQ and Beer Bash" is on Saturday (June 28), with several bands and solo artists slated to perform outdoors from 3 to 10 p.m. The event has been organized to raise funds for British Columbia Country Music Association, or BCCMA."You know, we're all members of the BCCMA and we know there's a lot of good work the association does," Cousineau told the Now."At the last AGM, the reserves were a little low so we thought of doing something special, maybe having the association members do an event like this because the association does so much for the artists."On Tuesday, a crew was building a stage for the day-long concert, expected to draw around 300 people to a 30-acre parcel of land at 2225 184th Street. Tickets are $20 when purchased in advance and $30 at the gate. Prize draws, a silent auction and other fundraisers are part of the event."We're not looking for this to be a huge event, and the focus is on raising money for the BCCMA," Cousineau said. "We've been sending out invitations to all the neighbours, and we've been talking to some of them already, and they're aboard already and love the idea. That was part of our proposal to the city as well, to invite all the neighbours and make sure that everybody is well aware of what's going on. Fortunately, we have a big enough property that it won't be too much of annoyance for them."Liquor service won't include hard alcohol, he added."The focus isn't to have people get too hammered, it's supposed to be a social event."The event will feature performances by Me Mae, Jim Abbott the Septic Sam Project, The Jardines, Merv Tremblay, Terry Brennan, alt-rock band YUCA and others."We're new members of the BCCMA, so it's great," said Shawn Meehan, guitarist and singer with the five-piece band Me Mae. "All proceeds go to them for events they do and their work to support artists. They help in a lot of ways.... It should be a lot of fun."Cousineau does marketing and promotions for Jim Abbott and other musicians through his Going Viral Productions company.The plan, Cousineau said, is to make this Bash an annual gathering."It's pretty early to tell right now, and it depends on the success of this event, for sure, and where the artists are at and the time involved," he said. "It would be a nice thing to have every year, yeah. It's always nice to be able to network with people in the industry, that kind of thing."Event details are online at Gvpbash.com, or call 778-908-2811.