Don't be woebegone if you didn't get a ticket to see Garrison Keillor and the Tune Jerks perform Sunday at Hope Christian Church. You're not alone.
The fundraiser for Haiti Mercy Mission was sold out early last week, after only about 10 days, said Pastor Trent Johnson.
The event, along with a buffet of homemade treats (rhubarb pie, anyone?), will raise thousands of dollars for the Minnesota-based charity that helps to provide for physical and spiritual needs of people in Pignon, Haiti. The group runs an orphanage and provides for a Christian school there, in addition to helping to provide for the daily needs of residents and Port-au-Prince refugees since the Jan. 12 earthquake.
The Shoreview church routinely hosts five Sunday evening concerts a year in its 220-seat sanctuary. Normally, the aim is community-building, not raising the roof on a boys' dormitory or building privies, as the mission recently did. But after the earthquake devastated parts of Haiti, church officials decided to add on a show as a fundraiser.
Haiti Mercy Mission officials have family members in the church leadership, so the organization's work immediately came to mind.
Church musical director Bob Douglas is an alumnus of the Powdermilk Biscuit Band, once the house band on Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show.
"Bob said, 'Let's give Garrison a call and see what happens,' " Johnson said. "I thought it was creative thinking, the will to take a risk and see what happens. It's going to pay off in Haiti, make a difference for some kids and some families on that end. ... Within 24 hours, we had a response from Garrison, saying sure, he'd fly out here and do a show."
Keillor is performing at no cost to the church. He will fly in after a live Saturday broadcast of his show from Town Hall in New York City to perform the Sunday night show, along with the Tune Jerks: mandolinist Douglas, fiddler Tom Schaefer and banjo picker Adam Kiesling.
