An annual event full of festive fun is set to make a difference in the community.
The 18th annual Okotoks Food Bank Christmas Concert was a resounding success, with both sold-out shows on Dec. 10 and 11 raising $105,000 and counting.
"For two nights, that is amazing," said Okotoks Food Bank executive director Bente Yanota.
In addition to the funds raised, Yanota said the concert also brought in 975 pounds of food.
"Ramping into the holiday season, this is where a lot of people are just opening their wallet, they're opening their pantries, they're just really stepping up and just wanting to help everybody in the community," she added.
The concert, a long-standing holiday tradition in Okotoks, brought in 900 people over two nights at the Okotoks Evangelical Free Church.
Dacy Zacharias, team lead for the concert's seven-person organizing committee, is grateful for the community's continued support.
"We're the largest acoustic music concert in the Foothills area, so we're pretty proud of that," she said.
This year's lineup of 10 musical acts, totalling 26 musicians, was a spectacular one, she continued, highlighting the concert's renowned headliners such as Calum Graham, a B.C.-based guitarist whose work has been recognized worldwide, and The Charms, a Canadian Country Music Awards-winning duo based in Calgary.
In addition to The Charms (Denis Dufresne and Megan Ann Konschuh) and Calum Graham, the Okotoks Food Bank Christmas Concert lineup included 33 Union (Mike Martel and Shaun Cardinal), Mike King, Brettyn Rose and Chase Morgan, Dwight Forseth and Jim McLennan, MzBehavin' and Ribeye Cap with Pat Hanley on both days, while Amy Bishop performed during the Tuesday show and the Carolyn Harley Trio took the stage the following day.
"We were incredibly blessed to have their level of talent on our stage," said Zacharias. "This was a very talented bunch of people that came across the stage this year with a lot of accolades behind them."
Following the success of the concert, the Okotoks Food Bank will now be working to put all the funds and food to good use in the new year.
"You have to kind of sit back and budget, for the rest of the year, how it's all going to look, and if you're going to be able to consistently be putting enough out for the people we serve to ensure that they always have enough throughout the whole year," said Yanota, who took the helm as executive director earlier this year after seven years with the organization,
The fundraiser's success comes at a time when it is much needed: demand for the Okotoks Food Bank's services has doubled in the last five years. According to Yanota, monthly hamper access has gone up 36 per cent from 2023, while the Help Yourself Shelves program has experienced a 13 per cent increase.
The Okotoks Food Bank will celebrate its 40-year anniversary in 2025.
"This milestone reflects our longstanding commitment to serving the community, it's also a sad reminder that food banks were meant to be a temporary solution, yet they can become a permanent fixture in nearly every city and town in North America," said Yanota in a speech during the concert.
Learn more about the Okotoks Food Bank on its website.
