This article has been updated to eliminate a reference to the song “Just Like Me.”
Paul Revere’s Raiders headlined a benefit concert at Centennial Hall Tuesday night for the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers.
More than 100 people attended the annual fundraiser, according to an estimate from FOAST’s vice president for Southeast Alaska, Charlie Smith.
“I think it went very well,” Smith said in a phone interview. “We probably made some money. We’re not sure much, we haven’t finished the bookkeeping yet.”
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For Paul Revere’s Raiders, renamed from Paul Revere and the Raiders, it isn’t the band’s first performance in the Southeast.
“When I took over running the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers, the first show I was at was Paul Revere and the Raiders,” Smith said. “They did a good job.”
The Raiders still don their signature Continental Army-inspired garb, too.
The event, held at Centennial Hall, had socially distanced seating, which made estimating total crowd size difficult, Smith said. Comedian Mark Cordes opened the event.
“I was really happy with the performance,” Smith said. “We think there were probably 150-200 people.”
The FOAST will use the donations to support local organizations across Alaska. In the past, Smith said, they’ve supported organizations like sports teams or local youth groups.
“The local troopers are always very active in the local communities,” Smith said. “We had two of the local troopers volunteer to come down and greet people.”
Donations will still come in for a few weeks as people circulate, Smith said.
“They trickle in easily as much as a month after the concert,” Smith said. “We get money coming in usually till the end of the year. I pick that up and send it to the people who total up the money.”
FOAST was thankful to those who donated and came out in spite of the ongoing pandemic, Smith said.
“We try to do this every year. We appreciate the public support, the local support,” Smith said. “With things that are happening we don’t get as much as we’d like.”
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire Tommy Scheckel drums during Paul Revere’s Raiders Tuesday night performance at Centennial Hall. The concert benefitted the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers.
