Coming to Ripley in late August is the newly created Ohio Rural Heritage Festival and the fledgling festival will be doing its part to help a family in the local community. Originally slated as a fundraiser for the August event, a July 25 dinner and concert will now become a benefit for the Ripley family who lost three members tragically last weekend, according to Heritage Festival President JoAnn Morgan.
“When we heard what happened last weekend, my husband and I were talking and thought that we had to do something,” said Morgan. “We decided that the fundraiser that we were doing was now going to be a benefit for the family, to help them with anything they might need at this time.”
The benefit dinner/concert will take place this Saturday, July 25 at the RULH Elementary School. Doors open at 5 p.m.and a catered meal will be served at 5:30 p.m. Performing at 7 p.m. will be Gary West and his “For the Love of Cash” tribute show and West has also agreed to donate back part of his fee for the evening. “Mr. West was all about helping when he heard the story,” Morgan said.
“In this event now, we also feel it is necessary to recognize the firefighters, EMT’s, and other first responders who protect us every day,” added Morgan. “We will be honoring those brave men and women who risk their lives as well as the veterans who have done the same for our country. We hope that as many of these men and women can attend as possible.”
“People come together in times like these and this family definitely needs us all. Personally, I have never seen anything like we saw Saturday night.”
Tickets for the Saturday evening event are $30 and can be purchased at Ripley Builder’s Supply and will now also be available at the door. For more information, call (937) 213-0540.