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Motoring for music

Taking to the open road to raise money for music therapy
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Feel-Good Fun Participants at last year's Canadian Music Therapy Ride, which went from Vancouver to Harrison Hot Springs. Photo by Kevin Statham.

What: 7 th annual Canadian Music Therapy Ride

When: Saturday, Sept. 13, 1 p.m.

Where: GLC

Admission: $50 (includes dinner and live show)

Music lovers across the province are ready to get their motors running and head to Whistler for a good cause.

The 7 th annual Canadian Music Therapy Ride, which raises money for the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund, is being held this weekend.

Chris Duncombe (better known as simply Dunner), the program manager at CFOX, is one of the founding organizers of the event.

“Seven years ago, a bunch of us from different sides of the music business got together and decided to do an event in the west, leading off some events that were happening in the east from friends of ours in the music industry by creating this music therapy ride to help out the Music Therapy Trust Fund,” Dunner explained.

The fund supports music therapy programs for children, the elderly, and others in need, through assistance to organizations like the Vancouver Oral Centre for Deaf Children, Canuck Place, George Pearson Centre, B.C. Cancer Agency, and many other program that use music to promote, maintain and restore mental and physical health.

“I think that some people in the music industry are sometimes spoiled and we forget how important music is,” Dunner said. “There isn’t a break-up in the world that’s happened without music, there isn’t any song that doesn’t somehow represent some foundational moment in your life, and when you recognize the healing power that music has to someone who is in a situation that’s really bad off, if it’s a kid in a children’s hospital, music can be something that can move mountains for them.”

So, Dunner and his colleagues decided to use music to raise money for music.

“For us to be able to give back and take what we do for a living and provide it to people in ways that it’s therapeutic is central, and we owe it to them to do it,” he said.

Since a lot of their friends in the industry are also into motorcycles and hotrods, organizers decided to incorporate the powerful toys into their fundraising efforts, and the Canadian Music Therapy Ride was born.

“The music industry has so many different tentacles and so many people to get involved,” Dunner explained. “It’s a great opportunity for us to sort of reach out to all of the people we do business with during the year and a whole bunch of people who are fans of what the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund does, and get them involved and unified on one cause for the year.”

Now, the event has grown to include over 85 motorcycles, 12 cars and more organizers than ever before.

“It’s been a small group of us that’s grown over the seven years, but now we’re had some really great rides in the time period we’ve been doing this, and this is going to be our biggest one yet, so it’s exciting!” Dunner said.

Even the organizing committee has grown drastically from five or six people, to a group of almost 20.

The annual ride starts in Vancouver, and the destination alternates from year to year between Whistler and Harrison Hot Springs, which are both about a two and a half-hour ride from the Lower Mainland.

“When you’ve got that many people, you want to do a ride that bikers are going to enjoy, and I mean, having the Sea to Sky Highway in your backyard, Whistler is an obvious choice,” Dunner added.

Members of the Vancouver Regional Police Motorcycle Drill team join the riders, blocking traffic along the route.

“They do this really cool leapfrog game all the way up — they block every intersection,” Dunner said. “It’s really something to see.”

Spectators are encouraged, though it may be more practical (and safer) to keep an eye out for the ride along the North Shore, rather than trying to camp out along the side of Highway 99.

With the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project moving along nicely, coupled with their police escorts, Dunner doesn’t anticipate any great delays getting into town.

This year, the ride starts out at the River Rock Casino Resort, where participants are fuelled up with breakfast before heading up Highway 99. Once they start, there’s no stopping till they reach Whistler, where they all unload from their hogs and head up to the GLC to enjoy a live show, silent and live auctions, and lunch.

Dunner plays banjo in Run GMC, the seven-piece trucker and bluegrass band that’s on deck to entertain during the afternoon at the GLC. They plan to return for an encore evening performance at the same venue.

“It’s a really kinda cool show,” he said. “We were on the road for a good chunk of the summer with the Calgary Stampede and whole bunch of other events in Alberta. We did the Commodore last fall and are just booked to do the Commodore again in November.”

There are also some highly recognizable names participating in the ride, this year — Ed Robertson, from the Barenaked Ladies, and Russel Peters, just to name a few. In past years, Jackson Davies, Brett Butt, Colin James, and a series of rockstars have come out to show their support for the event.

The auction side of the event is also a big money maker, with loads of industry swag up for grabs, including signed guitars from Elvis Costello, the Barenaked Ladies and Brooks and Dunn, and a signed mini piano from Diana Krall.

“It’s gotten bigger this year for sure than past years. The response has just been fantastic, so we think it’s going to be a big one for us,” Dunner said. The group is aiming to raise $50,000 at the event this year.

And you don’t have to be a member of the music industry to get involved. People can sponsor bikes, or buy a $50 ticket to the show at the GLC, which includes lunch.

Head to the web to find out more about how to get involved in this year’s ride, or to make a donation: www.musictherapyride.ca .