Honor Flight fundraiser set for Friday

• Sideline

Submitted Photo Sideline features Paul Larson on bass guitar (from left), Bill Shoup on guitar, Cindy Anderson on keyboards and Ken Clark on drums.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — When people finish work Friday afternoon, they’ll have a chance to honor Americans who served their country while enjoying the outdoors and the start of a holiday weekend.

Honor Flight Southwest Minnesota will host a fundraiser Friday at Centennial Park, with a beer garden scheduled to open at 4 and a food stand at 5 p.m. The locally based band Sideline is slated to perform from 6 to 10 p.m.; beer and food will be available until 11 p.m.

“We had approached Sideline member Paul Larson and asked him if they’d be interested in doing a fundraiser sometime this summer,” said Mike Kuhle, an Honor Flight Southwest Minnesota Committee member. “We finally settled on a date, and Sideline was very gracious. It’s just a big, big thing for them to be donating their time.”

JBS has donated pork for the event, and all food and drink (besides beer) will be available for free-will donations.

“We’ll make money off the food donations and also off the beer,” Kuhle said. “This is a great kickoff to the Fourth of July weekend, and we’re going to honor our World War II veterans.”

Money raised from Friday’s fundraiser will help pay for a second Honor Flight — the first took place April 30-May 1 — to Washington, D.C. The next flight is scheduled for Oct. 1-2.

“About 110 veterans go on this flight,” Kuhle said, “and there are another 52 guardians, and the guardians pay for themselves.”

“There’s also a medical team that goes along … and I believe the total cost is in the $130,000, $140,000 range. Veterans don’t pay a dime.”

Kuhle noted that Rock County plans to have its own fundraiser in Luverne sometime in August, with a different band set to perform.

“We just thought we’d do one here in Worthington as a way to raise some funds,” he said. “Nobles County has been generous in supporting this fundraising over the last seven months.”

Tags: honor flight, news, worthington, fundraiser, holiday, weekend