BARNEY BENTALL & THE CARIBOO EXPRESS
Where: Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Ave., Sidney
When: Thursday, Oct. 24-Sunday, Oct. 27
Tickets: Sold out
When singer-songwriter Barney Bentall rolls into the Mary Winspear Centre tonight for the first of four consecutive concerts with the Cariboo Express, it will be with a sense of bittersweet excitement.
The popular Bowen Island-based performer is playing the Sidney venue for the last time in his current capacity, bringing to a close 20 years at the helm of the annual country and western music and variety show. “I’m sure it will leave a fairly sizable hole in my life,” Bentall said of the Cariboo Express, which he co-founded with his son, Dustin Bentall, in 2005.
“But to have the opportunity to do it once more is great. I’m happy to be doing that.”
The concerts — all of which sold-out in advance — are modelled after Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, with a loosely-assembled cavalcade of stars at the ready for a set of originals and covers. The tour (formerly known as the Grand Cariboo Opry, before it ran afoul of copyright laws) has crossed Canada during two decades of philanthropic operation, raising upwards of $7 million in total through charitable organizations in each city.
The Cariboo Express has deep roots on Vancouver Island, and will travel to Parksville on Monday for a concert at Knox United Church, with funds benefiting Nanoose Community Services. Money raised at the Mary Winspear shows will benefit the Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank, a longtime beneficiary.
Bev Elder, the food bank’s executive director, has worked with Bentall and his charity since the beginning, and considers his annual contributions an integral lifeline. Last year’s Cariboo Express events raised $87,000 for the food bank, for a 20-year total of $560,000. Bentall is hoping that the four fundraisers on tap this week (up from three last year) will hit $100,000 for the first time ever.
“On a musical level, it has always been so fun and rewarding,” he said. “But it has always needed a charity that really engages, and makes the whole event a success. We’ve worked with a lot of charities over the years and Bev, to be honest, is probably the best. It’s remarkable what she does.”
Theirs is a symbiotic relationship, Elder said. Bentall can focus almost exclusively on the music side of the event, knowing that his contributions to the Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank, with Elder at the helm, will directly benefit people in need. “We are desperately low on food,” she said. “We are here and we need the help, and he helps us get the awareness up. He’s an amazing guy. Absolutely amazing.”
Cariboo Express member Geoffrey Kelly is no stranger to benefit concerts, having done his share of them with his former band, Spirit of the West. But being asked to join forces with Bentall, his friend of 45 years, was like walking onto the field with the New York Yankees. Bentall is in a different league than most musicians in Canada when it comes to philanthropy, Kelly said.
“I feel like some guy who has just been brought up from the minors and has joined the big team. When Spirit of the West ended, this began not too long after. I still feel like one of the new guys.”
The Bentalls and Kelly will be joined for the Sidney dates by Leeroy Stagger, Ridley Bent, Wendy Bird, Lorna Crozier, Stephanie Cadman, and Jay Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash, among others — though membership can run as high as 20 in some cities, depending on the schedules of those involved.
Bentall said he has always left the door for his collaborators to offer even the smallest of contributions. “This show has always been a bit of revolving door, and I like that. We’ll support whoever is there.”
At the Sidney concerts, Bentall said he’s planning to make special mention of the core performers who have been involved since the start. “Nobody’s going to get a watch or anything, but they are going to get noticed for being there in the humble beginnings.”
And as for what’s next? Bentall doesn’t have any firm plans. But he expects fundraising will always be among his motivations, having been raised in churches around Calgary by a father who was a minister and mother who was the first woman president of the Baptist Federation of Canada. Both put an emphasis on helping others, Bentall said, though he goes about it in a much more expressive manner.
“My parents were a wonderful example, but they were very quiet about it. The Cariboo Express deals a little more in bombast. We are entertainers.”
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