Students staging battle of the bands to raise funds for community centre

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Students at Ecole Secondaire de Par-en-Bas in Yarmouth County are stepping up to the plate when it comes to raising funds for a community centre to be built at the school.

And they’re stepping up to the microphone too.

Students at the school are helping Le Conseil Acadian de Par-en-Bas to organize a fundraising battle of the bands event that will take place at the school on Friday, April 25. The bands featured in this week’s battle span from Clare around to Barrington.

Some of the bands involved include Alive, On Hold, Meta-4, Flush, Manifest and Gravis.

The battle of the bands begins at 7 p.m. and the cost is $10 per person. Most of the music genres covered are rock and alternative rock.

Guest judges for the event are Dwight d'Eon, Julian Babin and Jennifer MacIntosh, who will also be performing. Dixacadie will also be performing during the night. “I think it’s going to be a really good night to see local talent,” says student Meghan d’Eon. “It’s going to be a good experience and hopefully it’s going to become an annual event.”

The students admit planning a battle of the band event was new to them. But they’re happy with how things have come together.

The community centre that is proposed for the school involves adding a 15,000-square-foot addition to the school. Features will include a 300-seat theatre, a meeting for associations and businesses, a community room with office space for associations, two foyers that will serve as galleries for art exhibitions and a preschool and early-years child facility.

Because students at the school will also benefit from having the community centre on site, they are involving themselves in the fundraising. One key feature they see in the future is being able to stage musical events like this in an auditorium instead of a gymnasium, whose design is really for sports.

After the battle of the bands, another fundraising project involving the young people will be a dinner theatre.

As for the battle of the bands event, the students involved in the planning are Colin Frotten, Colton LeBlanc, Justin Muise, Candace Spinney, Karmanda Murphy, Chelsey Spinney, Michel Boudreau, Daniel Boudreau, Meghan d’Eon, Mitchel Pothier and Alyssa LeBlanc.