Driven by a desire to impact the community and pursued by a group of teens, RedRock KC took the stage with an overwhelming success.

After an internship at the American Red Cross in the summer of 2011, senior Max McCalister from Pembroke Hill decided he wanted to help the organization in some way. He collaborated with his friends Pembroke senior Talia Hubble and Southwest senior Adrienne Taylor. Together they came up with the idea of RedRock KC.

In order for RedRock to happen preparations began at the beginning of the year.  Before getting too involved they tried to fundraise to ensure they would have enough money to put on the event. Then they formed a committee and broke into sub-committees for certain responsibilities.

Taylor was Executive Vice-President of Operations. She confirmed bands were booked and was in charge of making sure everything the day of was successful. This included lighting, sound, and security.

“There was a lot of planning involved,” Taylor said. “There are so many details people don’t think about when you’re putting on a concert.”

Taylor also brought in some friends to help including senior Anna Hickok. Hickok helped with marketing for the event. She sold tickets and put together fundraisers, including a few at Waterway.

Aside from ticket sales, another major part of planning included finding musicians for the event. Musicians were found in a variety of ways. The committee had promoter Bill Rush helping and he got one of the main bands, She’s a Keeper, involved. Another committee member had a connection to the event’s other main band, The Lonely Biscuits.

“We talked with people who we knew had an interested in doing something good and performing for us,” Taylor said. “One band even asked to play and eventually seven or eight bands emailed us hoping to be a part of it.”

Among these performers was senior Brett Young.

“At first I was a part of the planning committee, finding artists, selling tickets, and just getting the whole concert together,” Young said. “As it progressed, I became one of the artists.”

Taylor had asked Young if he wanted to be involved and he more than willing to help.

“It was something that I supported and believed in and thought was a good cause and good way to help the community and Red Cross,” Young said.

Not only did Young have to prepare for the event, but he began to have to prepare for his first performance.

“I was a little nervous,” he said. “I made sure I went over my songs, made sure I knew all my lyrics. I had to go back over them and make sure I didn’t curse or make any drug or sex references. That wasn’t really a problem anyway.”

In the months of June and July, Taylor’s regular three hours of preparation a week rose to seven.

“As RedRock got closer I felt a great deal of excitement but I was still very anxious,” Taylor said. “We’d spent months laying the groundwork and seeing it all come together was both stressful and a very proud moment.”

On Friday, July 13, at Crossroads the day of the event arrived. Tickets had been sold for $15 as presale and $20 at the door. Five hundred presale tickets were sold and an additional 200-300 tickets at the door. In total 700-800 people showed up for the event.

Young started off the concert and felt his first performance went very well.

“My favorite part honestly was in the middle of the concert when my DJ put on a random instrumental and I asked the crowd to give me one word to rap,” he said. “I freestyled with that one word. That was really cool and I got to show something different.”

His one word was ‘biscuit.’

“I like when people give me goofy words so I can do fun stuff,” he said. “Now swag or something like it is just dumb.”

After the success of Young’s performance he was even invited to perform later in Westport with a Reggae band.

Young hopes to create a career in music.

“Right now it’s somewhat of a hobby, and I’m making it more serious as I progress,” he said. “Music is one of the most important things I have in my life. It’s a great outlet and way to express my feelings.”

Following Young was a Battle of the Bands. Two rappers competed against one another and two bands. After the performances audience members were able to vote on Facebook for who they believed should win.

“It was just something we thought would be fun and interactive for the crowd,” Taylor said.

As the evening progressed, more people began to pile up closer to the stage.

“The best part of actually being there was toward the end when the Lonely Biscuits were playing and we looked backstage and there were so many people and they were going crazy,” Hickok said. “It was awesome to think that we made that happen.”

At the end of the night, RedRock raised $35,405.72 for American Red Cross. This was enough for Red Cross to buy its new emergency response vehicle.

“Overall I thought that the event was amazing,” senior Madison Hisle said. “It was really inspiring and awesome that everyone who organized the event was a teenager and I feel like it made a difference in the community. It showed that teens can hold events like this and contribute to a charitable cause.”

Due to the successes of this year’s event, the committee members plan to host it annually and continue to help Red Cross. Currently there is a Facebook page for RedRock KC 2013.  Planning has, of course, already begun for the following year.