Hot Springs holds first fundraiser for music festival

Danielle Switalski

The Symes Hotel in Hot Springs hosted the first of five fundraisers on Sunday afternoon to raise money for the first annual Blues Bluegrass Festival to be held July 25.

The first fundraiser was a chili contest and dog fashion show.  Places as far as the Paradise Whistle Stop donated chili to be taste-tested and voted on as residents filtered into the hotel despite the snowy weather Sunday afternoon.  Winner of the chili contest was Fergie’s pub in Hot Springs, with second place going to Loafing Around Bakery.  After the chili contest, a dog fashion show took place with dogs of all sizes dressing up in costumes such as a ballerina or Superman as if it was a doggy Halloween.  First place went to Buddy wearing a Superman costume, whose owners are Joanette and Keith Joiner and second place went to Ziggy the Dachshund, owner Billy Jean Cates, who was wearing a sweater vest.

“We raised $120 which was good for the little crowd we had.  I didn’t expect to raise $100 with the weather, so I was really happy with that,” said Copley, fundraiser and festival organizer.

Copley is trying to raise money to host the first annual Blues Bluegrass Festival, which will feature various bands, such as John Kelly and his Mojo band out of Sandpoint and the Monarch Mountain Boy Bluegrass Band.  Copley said he wanted to help out the Hot Springs Artists Society, which normally puts on music events featuring local artists by creating the Bluegrass Festival.  Copley estimates the festival will cost around $1,700, which would be a lot of money for the artist’s society to contribute as they are strictly a nonprofit organization.

Copley has a fundraiser set up for every month leading up to the actual festival with a large raffle beginning in March and going all the way to the day of the event.  The raffle will include a 32-inch flat screen TV, a large camping cooler, a Schwinn mountain bike and a fishing pole.

In March, Copley will be putting on a game day and spaghetti feed.

“Game day means every kind of card game, chess, checkers, anything.  Everyone can bring in their games to play, with a spaghetti dinner at night,” said Copley.

In April, Copley is going to hold a craft day and spaghetti feed.  Over Memorial Day weekend, all the bars in Hot Springs are going to participate in Bar Olympics.  Bar Olympics includes two –person teams with around ten events starting at the lawn at the Symes Hotel, with various other games such as shuffle board at Fergie’s Pub, darts and pool at Montana bar, horseshoes and karaoke.  The last fundraiser before the actual festival will be in June with a campout at the Symes Hotel with a barbecue and music by Gary Redman.