The inaugural MonoBillie Boogie event went down on Saturday, Nov. 26 and was a massive success, setting the precedent for future parties to come.
The event honoured the life and legacy of Bill Henriksen, celebrated and shared his passion for monoskiing and was a winter clothing drive and fundraiser for the Kimberley Helping Hands Food Bank
Organizer and Alderbash front man Ryan Peterson said the event was a tremendous success and had around 160 people in attendance.
"It was rockin’," he said. "The crowd was about the amount we were hoping for. There was lots going on around town that night, but we had a great crowd and it was a great mixed diverse crowd of all ages, mono skiers, non mono skiers and we’re super fortunate to have had a bunch of Bill’s friends show up.
"His old skiing friends and wool spinning friends and his daughter came in from Alberta, it was just great."
The night featured a bevvy of amazing music, starting off with Oliver McQuaid. He played a set full of crowd-favourites, before he was joined on stage by his wife Natalie Skokan to play their original monoskiing song — the first, but certainly not last of the night — entitled "When Two Become One."
Heather Gemmell was next to the stage. She performed her own original monoskiing song, as well as "North Star Turning", which she wrote as a happy follow-up to her song "North Star Burning," written about the 2021 arson at Kimberley Alpine Resort.
Last up was Alderbash, who had three original mono-skiing songs. They were joined by local photographer Shona Rubens, who also captured all the festivities with her lens, to perform her original tune entitled "Don't Knock it 'til You Try it."
"It was a full night of music, original mono skiing songs and the dance floor was rocking the whole night," Peterson said.
He added the event absolutely helped to inspire some of the next generation of monoskiers, as well as recruiting numerous new MonoBillies to the club.
"I think we were definitely successful the word out there about the culture and how much fun it is," Peterson added. "There were people that showed up at the party actually that were new to town, they didn't even know what they were getting into, or what was happening, so they were blown away. Good times had by all."
The fundraising component of the night was also a huge success, raising well over $1000 and184 pounds of food for the Kimberley Food Bank. The party also collaborated with the Jingles For Jackets carolling fundraiser that same day, serving as a drop-off location and collecting a large amount of jackets and other warm winter clothing to be distributed throughout the community.
"I just wanted to thank everyone involved in the planning and organizing of that and all of the wonderful people who came out to make it such a fun time," Peterson said. "We look forward to future events."
