How you can help give to fire relief by attending concerts across Stillwater this weekend
Brandy McDonnell- Stillwater Strong is a two-day fundraising event to benefit the area fire departments that responded to the March 14 wildfires.
- The event will take place at six Stillwater venues: The Salty Bronc Saloon, The Dirty Rooster, Willie's Saloon, The Great White Buffalo Tavern, The Twelves agritourism and event center and Bad Brad's Bar-B-Q.
- The lineup for the fire relief fundraiser features many Red Dirt acts and other Oklahoma musicians.
Melissa Hunter didn't set out to plan a two-day fundraising event with six venues all over town during a time of year that's already busy for the Stillwater community.
"It started small in my head, and then everyone wanted to help. So, we said, 'The more merrier,' and we grew," said Hunter, co-owner of The Salty Bronc Saloon in Stillwater.
"Working with the different venues has actually been really good. As a whole, the bar, pub, tavern owners — or whatever we want to call ourselves —in Stillwater get along really well, and we work hard together and for each other, because we don't want to see anybody fail by any means. So, it's been a joy."
In the wake of the wind-whipped March 14 wildfires that plagued the Payne County city, Hunter has been spearheading preparations for Stillwater Strong: Red Dirt Rising, a March 29-30 fire relief fundraising event across six Stillwater venues: The Salty Bronc Saloon, The Dirty Rooster, Finnegan's Fighting Goat, The Great White Buffalo Tavern, The Twelves agritourism and event center and Bad Brad's Bar-B-Q.
"Everybody's calling, 'What can I do? Where can I be? What can I give?' We thought we'd be lucky to fill stages and have 40 artists; as of right now, we've got 60 artists that are going to play through the weekend. They are all donating their time, 100%, nobody's getting paid," Hunter said.
"All the venues are incurring whatever expenses we have out of pocket, and the venues are donating 10% of our beverage sales. ... It's important: These people built our businesses, and we have an opportunity to give back. So, that's what we're going to do."
How did the March 14 wildfires affect Stillwater?
Gov. Kevin Stitt declared a "disaster emergency" for 12 Oklahoma counties, including Payne County, on March 15, the day after a historic storm crossing the country whipped up 60 to 70 mph winds in the Sooner State. The extreme wind conditions on March 14 powered wildfires that burned about 179,000 acres in Oklahoma.
Four people died as the fires and high winds swept through the state, and Oklahoma hospitals reported 200 injuries related to the fires, winds or vehicle accidents.
The March 14 fire storms destroyed nearly 300 houses and other structures across Oklahoma; in Stillwater alone, more than 50 homes and structures were affected by or lost to the fires.
Since she also works as an insurance adjuster, Hunter has witnessed often over the past 30 years how natural disasters like wildfires can cause havoc in people's lives.
"Once the smoke clears — sorry for the cliché — and life goes back to normal and the rebuild starts, that impact doesn't go away, whether it's fires or tornados or hailstorms," she said. "Usually, I chase big storms out of state ... and I'm helping those people get money in their hands. But it's always like, 'There's more I can do.' So, when this happened, I knew immediately, 'This is my opportunity. I'm not deployed right now on a storm. I can help right here in my hometown.'"
Proceeds from Stillwater Strong will benefit the area fire departments that responded to the wildfires, Hunter said, particularly the volunteer departments and auxiliary organizations. The nonprofit Coyle Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary has partnered with the event's organizers.
"They don't get much money at all. They will get some months down the road for equipment that got torn up while fighting these fires. But it's through FEMA, and it takes a lot of red tape and a lot of bureaucracy before they can even get partial reimbursement," Hunter said.
Who is playing and what is planned for the Stillwater Strong fundraising event?
Along with live music, Stillwater Strong will feature food and drink, live and online auctions and benefit T-shirts created by Perkins company B4-Designs.
Many Red Dirt acts and other Oklahoma musicians have joined the lineup for the fire relief fundraiser, including The Armadillo Killers (featuring Scott Lester and Kelley Green of future Oklahoma Music Hall of Famers The Great Divide), Waxie Dargles, Red Dirt Rangers, Kaylin Smith, Mike Hosty, Noah Bowman, Bryon White, Emily Hollingshed, Buffalo Rogers, Justin Prine, Megan Marlene, Boston James, Dylan Stewart and more.
Tickets are $25 to partake in all the festivities spread out over both days. On March 29, Finnegan's Fighting Goat, The Great White Buffalo Tavern and Bad Brad's will be hosting. On March 30, the just-opened Dirty Rooster, The Salty Bronc and The Twelves will be the featured venues, with the latter serving a Sunday family picnic, which is included in the ticket price and will be catered and donated by Duncan Catering.
Although most of the venues are limited to patrons 21 and older, Hunter said Bad Brad's and The Twelves will be the family-friendly sites for Stillwater Strong.
"It was really important to me to have some family venues so that people can come out. We have a lot of firefighters from the different departments that we're benefiting that are like, 'Hey, can I bring my kids?' You sure can; we've got two places you can bring them as long as you want," she said.
How is the Stillwater community coming together with its fire relief efforts?
Although Bad Brad's will be closed on this coming Sunday as usual, the restaurant on March 23 hosted its own fire relief fundraiser, Stillwater Rising. Bad Brad's owner Vernon Wilson told The Oklahoman that Stillwater Rising raised more than $40,000 for wildfire relief.
"It's pretty amazing," he said. "We had a huge amount of support. It was a complete success; we had north of 700 people there. We raised almost $30,000 in the auction, and then the rest in raffles and food and everything."
Stillwater Rising featured live music by more than 50 acts — including many of the same artists who are performing at Stillwater Strong — along with a barbecue buffet, silent auction, raffles and even a dunk tank.
"Stillwater is the heart and soul of Red Dirt music, and these people are the reason why," Wilson said of the many musicians who have donated their time and talents to the fundraising efforts.
Along with Wilson, the mayor, the fire chief, an Oklahoma State University cheerleader and many others volunteered to get drenched in the dunk tank.
"I think that raised two grand just in $5 bills," Wilson said with a chuckle. "We've had everybody, from individuals, business owners, helping us out."
Even after organizing Stillwater Rising, Wilson said he's happy to have his restaurant among the March 29 venues for Stillwater Strong, too.
"With these six businesses, I've been to every one of them and spent money, and every one of them has spent money with me. We all know each other. We're all just supporting each other and supporting the town. It's that simple," he said.
The Salty Bronc will close out the two-day event March 30 with a live auction at 6 p.m., a set by the Red Dirt Rangers at 7 p.m. and a musical family jam at 8 p.m. Live auction items will include a four-man duck hunting outing with lodging, tickets to the sold-out "The Boys from Oklahoma" concerts featuring the reunited Cross Canadian Ragweed, a signed guitar from Ragweed frontman Cody Canada and more.
With "The Boys from Oklahoma" concerts next month, spring in Stillwater already was going to be even busier than usual, with events like OSU graduation and the Cowboys' spring football game on the calendar. But Hunter said that the community knew that coming together to raise money for fire relief was critical.
"I do have professionals from the Stillwater mental health community who are going to be available at the (Stillwater Strong) venues. ... They're willing to sit down and talk and pass out resources and names and numbers and make referrals," she said. "People don't realize the emotional impact that it has on those that lose their houses ... or the neighbors or the children who don't understand what's going on and how are they going to be safe again."
STILLWATER STRONG
- When: March 29-30.
- Where: The Salty Bronc Saloon, The Dirty Rooster, Finnegan's Fighting Goat, The Great White Buffalo Tavern, The Twelves agritourism and event center and Bad Brad's Bar-B-Q.
- Information: https://www.facebook.com/saltybronc.
- Tickets: http://flatlandtickets.com.