The Grand Portage Lodge and Casino is presenting its annual Retro Rock Review weekend on the weekend of June 29 and 30. Featuring the best of rock music from the 70s through the 90s, this year the music festival is reaching out to a much more important cause than giving some of us an excuse to break out those old Miami Vice Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses for a last ride in the convertible. 100 percent of the ticket sales will be given to the Canadian Red Cross for Thunder Bay’s Flood Relief.
Given that the grounds of the Lodge and Casino can hold thousands, this is potentially a huge gift; yet the greatness of the gift is in its kind sincerity to a neighbour.
“When we heard about the families affected by the flood we wanted to help out. The Retro Rock Revue is the biggest event on the North Shore and always pulls in a big crowd and that’s why we’ve chosen to donate all of our ticket sales to the flood relief effort”, said Frank Vecchio, Director of Marketing for Grand Portage Lodge and Casino. “We realized that even though the event is four weeks away, help was needed right now. So we chose to donate $10,000 dollars up front with the rest of the money to come after the event.”
With acts ranging from Smash Mouth (‘Might as Well be walking on the Sun’), to the disco band Boogie Wonderland, to Kiss Army Live (a band so retro it even has a MySpace page), this seems sure to be the most fun way to help those in need.
By Hubert O’Hearn