Jetpack On! to perform last concert at third annual Downtown for a Pint Thursday
Jetpack On! will be finishing their musical career in the same place they started it.
The Mount Pleasant band will be performing at Downtown for a Pint III, 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the corner of Main Street and Broadway Street in downtown Mount Pleasant.
Jetpack On! is one of five bands performing at the benefit concert. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. of Detroit will be headlining. Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers of Mount Pleasant, Elliot Street Lunatic of East Lansing and The Satin Peaches of Detroit will all be playing as well.
Ryan Hoger, guitarist and vocalist of Jetpack On!, said it was his goal to play at Downtown for a Pint before Jetpack On! even existed.
"Before I even went to Central... I went to a Downtown for a Pint and I remember saying 'Damn- I really want to play that'," the Commerce junior said. "We get to close kind of at the same place that we started."
LeRoy junior Wayne Blanchard worked as this year's event coordinator for the event. Blanchard is the chapter president of Central Michigan University's co-ed business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi--which has sponsored the concert since it first began.
Blanchard said this years concert will be similar to last years.
Five bands will perform this year as opposed to the six last year and the four that performed in 2009.
"We thought it would be best to go in between and do five bands," Blanchard said. "(We also) considered a venue change. At the end of the day we ended up going with the same venue, so it's in the middle of Main Street."
Cheboygan senior Crystal Korn, director of operations, said 10 bands contacted her this year requesting to play.
"I think it's an excellent line up this year and I'm really excited to hear all the bands play," she said.
Many local businesses have sponsored the event so it could remain free for students.
Last year, about $2,200 was raised for the American Red Cross.
Korn isn't sure how fundraising will fare this year.
"A lot of the businesses have been slowed down economically, so we aren't getting the same kind of donations that we used to," she said.
Despite the financial outcome, the money raised will still go to the American Red Cross.
Blanchard said half of the money raised will be sent to Red Cross disaster relief efforts in Japan, and the other half will stay at the local American Red Cross unit.
"Local business owners like to know their money is staying locally," Blanchard said. "Half stays here, and at the same time, we can still be able to get into the humanitarian side of things and try to help the major disaster going on on the other side of the world."
Korn said the point of Downtown for a Pint is to promote not only the American Red Cross, but also the downtown businesses of Mount Pleasant.
Over 10 local stores and businesses have donated to make Downtown for a Pint a reality.
Hoger said he was happy to support the American Red Cross.
"I'd say saving lives is a pretty important cause," he said. If I was in need of a blood transfusion... I would hope that people would support"
