The Sunset Country Music Festival is returning for the fourth year on Aug. 9 near MacDowall and each year the festival raises money for worthy causes.
This year the Festival is giving all of their profits to River Valley Resilience Retreat (RVRR).
RVRR co-founder Michelle McKeaveney is grateful for the festival’s support.
She said it’s exciting to see younger people like festival founders Josh Stumpf and Mercy Glover offer their help.
“It really, really resonated with our hearts that we were on the right track, that people from all ages were understanding what we were trying to do because mental health and wellness impacts so many,” she said.
The retreat is a non-profit initiative based south of Prince Albert. It was created to serve those who dedicate their lives to public safety, including RCMP officers, volunteer firefighters, emergency medical responders, and even sectors often overlooked like tow truck drivers or funeral workers. The aim is to offer mental health programming, peer support and a safe space for healing, particularly in smaller communities across Saskatchewan where services are limited.
McKeaveney said this kind of support shows the retreat’s message is getting out.
“You hear sirens … when you’re in the city and that’s just becomes expected,” McKeaveney said. “People kind of tune all that out. We forget that there’s people behind all of those sirens on either end and somebody’s going to have a response one way or the other, whether that is today, tomorrow or five, 10, 20 years. That’s what River Valley is here for, so to be chosen as a recipient of this and especially about music is so fantastic.”
The retreat hosted an event based around music with their first ever “Boots, Badges and Fiddles Dinner & Dance Fundraiser” in June at the St. Louis Community Hall.
That event featured performances by the Dean Smith Band with Freddie Pelletier and Brian Sklar.
Having fundraisers based around music is especially important to McKeaveney, who started singing at a very young age and learned music in school.
“I took music from there and started in opera and then ended up singing in different venues in different forms after that, including the Country North Show when I was 15 years old,” McKeaveney said.
“Freddie Pelletier and Brian Sklar were two of my mentors from all of those years ago.”
She said the RVRR is becoming a well-used space exactly as the founders hoped.
“We are finding value through the people who are continuing to seek us out (and) come out to the Retreat for their respite or come out for the day, come out for an evening and go for a canoe,” McKeaveney said.
“People are utilising it and that brings joy to us because we knew it was needed. Now, to see the benefit and the influx of people is very encouraging. The message is getting out and we could hopefully work on prevention as opposed to crisis intervention all the time.” McKeaveney thanked everyone for their continuing support of the River Valley Resilience Retreat.
“We are just so grateful to have the ongoing and continuing support from not only our donors, our supporters, but people who reach out to us with donations of coffee or baked goods. It’s just it really makes us feel like we are being heard and understood,” McKeaveney said.
Over the years, the organizers of the Sunset Country Music Festival have teamed up with groups like the Victoria Hospital, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and even helped provide musical instruments for kids living at the Ranch Ehrlo Society homes in Prince Albert. The Sunset Music Festival is on Aug. 9 and will feature performances by Brett Down, Evan Baxter, Mercy, and Josh Stumpf, Advance Tickets are $25 per attendee and are available online at Eventbrite.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
