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Nelson youth Keep the Beat

Youth-organized music festival coming up at Lakeside
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The youth organizers of this year’s Keep the Beat music festival at Lakeside Park have 12 hours of entertainment lined up for August 26. Photo: Will Johnson

Lakeside Park will host 12 hours of free live entertainment on Saturday, August 26 as part of this year’s Keep the Beat fundraiser, with acts such as Adham Shaikh, Hello Moth and Peach Pit set to play.

It will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“We have the complete works this year,” organizer Quinn Barron told the Star about the 14th annual fundraiser.

“It’s really an incredible thing I feel privileged to be part of.”

Their team of recent graduates and high school students from L.V. Rogers and Mount Sentinel have been working for weeks to set up the one-day festival, which is completely by-donation. Each year it benefits War Child Canada, and they’re still feeling buoyed after receiving a nice big anonymous donation last year: $16,000.

That was an experience that impacted them. When volunteer Hannah Abbey learned they’d received that cash, which brought them to a total of $25,000, she freaked out a little bit.

“I was super, super excited. It was a really stressful day because we were trying to get all the donations together and organize bands, but it was super cool because all the volunteers banded together and we made something really cool happen — set the record for Keep the Beat.”

During this year’s event there will be a kid’s tent, a silent auction and other activities. There will be blues, folk, alternative and jazz being played, as well as lots of dancing in the sun. All the funds raised will go towards helping children in war-tone countries such as Uganda, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Jordan.