The upcoming Halloween Howler – hosted by Airdrie band Steady the Wheel – promises to be a spooky good time, and will benefit a great cause.
Jay Stoudt, founding member of Steady the Wheel, said the band is excited to donate proceeds from the event to the Airdrie 2020 Alberta Winter Games. The annual 18+ event, taking place Oct. 27, will give residents an opportunity to cut loose before taking the kids trick-or-treating later in the week.
“It is going to be a fun-filled event,” Stoudt said. “We have four hours of jam-packed, non-stop music, where we have two bands each playing one-hour sets. There’s no break in between.”
“If you’re going to help support a community initiative like the Airdrie Winter Games, you might as well have fun doing it,” added Shauna Quinn, chair of Airdrie 2020 Winter Games Committee’s Board of Directors.
Steady the Wheel and Calgary’s Flatline Phoenix will take turns performing covers of songs Stoudt said people love and want to dance to. Wilkes Booth food truck will be on hand serving food, and members of the Airdrie 2020 Winter Games Committee will handle beverage sales provided by Fitzsimmons Brewery. Proceeds of the drink sales will support the Winter Games.
“We are working with [Steady the Wheel] to create a memorable experience at the Howler,” Quinn said.
Stoudt added awards will be presented throughout the evening for the best costumes, as decided by members of the Airdrie 2020 Committee.
“It is a Halloween-costume party, so we encourage people to dress up, but it’s not mandatory,” he said.
Doors will open at 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Town and Country Centre, with music starting at 9 p.m.
Tickets for the event are available at halloweenhowler.ca at a cost of $25 per ticket and will be sold until noon Oct. 27, with a limited number of tickets available at the door. Stoudt said the event has a maximum capacity of 300 people, and as of Oct. 11, the event is about 40 per cent sold out.
Steady the Wheel – which is organizing the event for the fifth time – sees the Halloween Howler as a way to give back to Airdrie by supporting local groups that might have a slightly lower profile in the community, Stoudt said – which has included Creative Airdrie, SLAM, Rocky View Rollers and Airdrie Meals on Wheels.
“Steady the Wheel is an Airdrie-based band, and a lot of our success is the support that we do get from the community,” he said. “Without their support…nobody would come to our events.”
Quinn said the committee is very excited to partner with Steady the Wheel for the event, since proceeds will go a long way towards offsetting some of the Games’ estimated $1.9-million cost.
“When we’re bringing big games like this to Airdrie, about 60 per cent of the funding required to support the games, just through their operations alone, has to come from fundraising activities,” she said.
