The Shake the Lake charity event is coming to Bala in September.
The five-day event will feature a collection of artists including musicians, DJ’s, comedians and a variety of local food and drink venders.
It will be held at Bush’s Watersports Park in Bala and run from Wednesday, September 1st till Sunday, September 5th .
Event headliners include rock band Monster, Truck, Crown Lands, singer Terra Lightfoot and cover bands Full Petty Fever and Zed.
Warren Mayhew and Stuart Manchee went before Muskoka Lakes Council on August 11 to lay out their plans for the event and get support from council.
There were also requesting that council waive the business license fee to make it easier for vendors to participate in the event. This is similar to what has already been approved for the Cranberry Festival which will be held in October.
Manchee said that the event was for a good cause and will be donating part of its earnings to charity.
“It’s a benefit for a good cause. We’re going to be donating a good quarter of our session of the net profits to Danny Wenjack and the Gord Downey funds.” Manchee said.
The charities that will receive part of the revenue are the Gord Downie Sunnybrook and the Downie Wenjack Foundations as well as local charities with a cancer focus.
Council appeared to be in full support of the idea, with Councillor Ruth Nishikawa saying “There is a tremendous amount of support from the community for this,”
Manchee focused part of the presentation on the first day of the event which is designed as a community day.
People are free to come on Wednesday, September 1st without having to buy a ticket. Tickets for the remaining four days range from $65 to $55 with a week pass available for $199. and must be purchased in advance. While attendees do not have to pay to enter on Wednesday all are encouraged to make a donation.
“The community is welcome to come on Wednesday with no ticket,” said Manchee.
A silent auction will be held on Wednesday, the organizers have said that they have received a lot of items from the community for the auction.
Manchee and Mayhew also pledged to go above and beyond what is required by current covid restrictions.
“The very most important thing to execute this is to follow and obey the protocols for gatherings,” said Manchee.
The event organizers have experience with this kind of festival. They were involved with a 12,000 person event in 2016 that raised over $20,000 for the Gord Downie Sunnybrook Foundation.
Council agreed to waive the business fees and gave the event unanimous support.
Tickets are currently available to be purchased online.
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