Today it hit home exactly why we’re producing this festival. I start festivals not because of causes, but because I want to bring fantastic events to Flagstaff. I’ve been in Flagstaff for 38 years – since I drove up the mountain from Cottonwood to go to NAU. I’ve watched Flagstaff morph over the years into this amazing community and I am proud to produce the events I do. However, this morning, I opened an email from one of the men who is a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and read an article that had been done on the Arizona Military suicide rate. My heart broke as I read that 226 Arizona Veterans committed suicide last year. 226 men and women whose courage was undeniable in war, but who didn’t receive the help they needed once they came home. I thought I was producing Flagstaff’s first country music festival and being a 5th generation Arizonan, I was going back to my roots. But now I know that I’m producing Mountain Country Music Festival because these men and women need help. They deserve help, they deserve OUR help. They stepped up so we didn’t have to. These men and women sacrificed while we went to festivals, spent holidays with our families, and enjoyed the beautiful summers here in Flagstaff. We didn’t give it a second thought, our country didn’t make this a war we all were in, this was a war that took the souls of our men and women and tormented them, and now 22 veterans a day commit suicide. We will never know what they witnessed, what they endured, but we can make sure that they know we care and that we’re grateful for their service. So, while we’re producing a country music festival, we’re going to be raising money for an organization that is committed to helping Northern Arizona Veterans get the help they need.
Debbi