The Chilkat Center will be transformed into Slim’s Sourdough Saloon at 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 6, complete with blackjack table, dancing girls, honky-tonk piano and swinging saloon-style doors.
Performer Sourdough Slim, a cowboy accordionist and yodeler, will take the stage at 7 p.m.
The event is the third annual fundraiser for the Foundation for the Chilkat Center for the Arts. It’s also a celebration of the foundation’s recent success in securing more than $170,000 in grants for its “Lights, Sound, Action!” improvements project and reaching its $200,000 fundraising goal.
Organizer Lorrie Dudzik said many people have been working hard to put together the event. David Routh is constructing the swinging saloon doors, Neil Einsbruch will man the blackjack table, and Tresham Gregg is painting the large, themed bar.
“It’s going to be a real hoot. We’re going to have a great party,” Dudzik said.
Dudzik, who has seen Sourdough Slim perform several times in the Lower 48, said the performer is “vaudevillian” and “hilarious.”
“He comes on out and you are thinking, ‘Oh boy, who is this guy?’ And then he starts singing and you start laughing,” Dudzik said. “He really can yodel, and, hopefully, he will get the audience going and teach us all how to yodel.”
According to Sourdough Slim’s website, “Slim, aka Rick Crowder, is a well-traveled veteran of stages ranging from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering to the Lincoln Center’s Roots of American Music Festival and the Carnegie Hall Folk Festival. His fast-paced stage show finds him crooning Western classics, playing accordion, guitar and harmonica, dancing a jig, dishing out hilarious comedic sketches and letting loose with some absolutely mind-boggling yodeling.”
Attendees are encouraged to show up in their favorite cowboy duds, including fancy belts, spurred boots and other Western attire.
“If girls want to dress up like saloon girls, that’s good, too,” Dudzik said.
Prizes will be awarded for the best adult costumes for men and women. A youth costume prize will also be awarded.
The event is family-friendly.
“Haines likes to laugh and Haines loves a party. I think we’ll be doing a lot of laughing and a lot of partying,” Dudzik said.
Slim’s Sourdough Saloon will be open from about 6 to 7 p.m. and during intermission, Dudzik said.
Food, beer and wine will be available for purchase.
Tickets are $15, and $40 for families. Tickets are available at the Babbling Book and at the door.