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seppo fest

Jim Byrnes, Bif Naked to play at Seppo fund-raiser By Oona Woods Whistler's community fund-raiser for Seppo Makinen, who lost his house to a blaze last month, is to be held at the conference centre on Saturday, May 16.

Jim Byrnes, Bif Naked to play at Seppo fund-raiser By Oona Woods Whistler's community fund-raiser for Seppo Makinen, who lost his house to a blaze last month, is to be held at the conference centre on Saturday, May 16. Jim Byrnes and Bif Naked are slated to play the event. Local promoter Larry Laporte says the diametrically opposed performers will ensure that a large cross-section of the community is drawn out to participate on the evening. "We have Jim Byrnes on first for the older crowd. Then they can go home to bed when Bif Naked play for the younger people," he explains. He also went on to point out that the room has been donated free and all food and beverages are being supplied at cost. The only expected outlay will be for the musicians and sound equipment. "This means everything made on the evening will go straight into the fund." Laporte also says that this is not about simply raising money out of charity; there is no way you can replace what has been lost. "All we can do is show up, show that we're there and show him (Seppo) our support, show him that we're friends. Hopefully everyone who ever partied at his house over the last 25 years will be there." Support for the Finnish logger who cut many of the early runs on Whistler Mountain has exploded in the first week following the fire. A fund-raiser at Tapley’s Neighbourhood Pub April 24 raised $3,600 through the sale of raffle tickets and cash donations. The Boot Pub held a fund-raiser April 26 and raised nearly $1,500 in cash ($1,000 from patrons and 25 per cent of the bar’s gross sales that evening) plus thousands of pieces of clothing, shoes and non-perishable food items were donated. Another raffle ticket fund-raiser, organized by Whistler Printing, is ongoing. Local businesses and artisans have donated prizes to the raffle, such as $500 worth of labour for decorative painting by Deanna White and Anthony Johnson and $250 worth of Bio-wash material. Tickets are $5 each and only 5,000 tickets are being printed. Tickets are available from Whistler Printing, Pique Newsmagazine and various other locations and individuals around town. Draw date is July 1.