It was Thalassa Restaurant’s biggest turnout ever for its cancer charity fundraiser, the Concert Under the Stars, on Aug. 30.
With 410 tickets sold, the event was sold out, said organizer and co-owner of Thalassa Restaurant, Oura Giakoumakis.
Headlined by Canadian country music star Aaron Pritchett for the three years the concert has been running, the event has managed to raise tens of thousands of dollars for Ronald McDonald House and, since last year, the BC Cancer Foundation as well.
This third concert saw the addition of musicians Jayden Holman from Nanaimo and Sydney Reynolds.
This year’s goal was to raise $25,000 in total to split among the two charities. That number was exceeded, said Giakoumakis.
“We raised… $26,016 in cash and $2,500 in gifts and donations of gift cards. So just shy of $30,000,” she said. “It was amazing.”
With Thalassa Restaurant, Giakoumakis said she and many volunteers and supporters have raised $166,500 over the past nine years, including before beginning the concert.
“It’s overwhelming,” she said of the amount. “It’s definitely not something that we could have done on our own without everybody coming to the event and the support.”
Having a musician of Pritchett’s calibre headline the concert and donate his time has been a major boon.
He also puts himself up for auction each year to play a private concert for the highest bidder. This year Holman got in on that as well.
“All three of our artists last night were amazing,” said Giakoumakis. “Everybody is here to help for the bigger cause, and that’s the amazing part of being able to do this, is that we’re not one person doing it.”
Giakoumakis said the ultimate goal is to raise enough money so no family has to pay for accommodations for treatments.
The concert provided approximately $14,000 for Ronald McDonald House, which will cover 200 room nights “where no family will have to pay for accommodations,” Giakoumakis said.