What started as a fun Australia Day celebration at Slackwater Brewing has grown into a jam-packed fundraiser to support Australian bush-fire relief efforts.
Sunday, Jan. 26, Slackwater is hosting a silent auction and a free live concert by local band Jack and Jill. The brewery will also be co-hosting other Australia Day fundraiser parties at Apex Mountain Resort, Silver Star Mountain Resort, and in Whistler via satellite.
Co-founder of Slackwater, Liam Peyton spent his first seven years in Canada libing in Whistler after he moved from the U.K.
Peyton said he made countless Australian friends in Whistler.
“It’s terrifying to fathom what some of them are going through right now. Australia Day was always a blast in Whistler, so we thought we could turn this celebration into something bigger and try to help out,” said Peyton.
The event has already received an overwhelming amount of support from the community, according to Slackwater.
“Donations for the silent auction started piling in, Jack and Jill offered to perform a few sets to get the party started, and then some of our partnered bars in the ski resorts that we service wanted to help out too,” Peyton said.
One of the brewpub’s bar leaders, Joel Simons, is from Victoria, Australia. Simons has helped lead the charge with getting the local community involved.
“With Australia Day coming up, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to engage our local community to help raise awareness and funds for our friends back home battling the worst fires the country has ever seen,” said Joel.
Slackwater’s Australia Day fundraiser starts at 3 p.m. on Jan. 26 (Australia Day), in the bar’s taproom at 218 Martin St.
All proceeds from the silent auction, customer donations, and part of proceeds from all beer and Australian meat-pies sold on Sunday will go to the Victoria Bushfire Relief Fund.
To find out more about how you can get involved this weekend, contact Slackwater Brewing at info@slackwaterbrewing.com.
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