A nifty lineup of locals will be on hand at Whistler's next International Women's Day (IWD) concert, March 8 at Dusty's Bar & BBQ: Jeanette Bruce, Laura Nedelak, Robyn Forsyth, Izumi Inoue, Rachel Lewis, Mom Jeans and Steph Lundy.
Rounding out the night's talent are the Handsome Men, Soul Club, DJ Lon and Foxy Moron. All proceeds will go towards PearlSpace, a corridor non-profit dedicated to preventing gender-based violence and helping abuse survivors.
Tickets sold out five days after they became available, but event organizer Tony Horn wants people to know what's going on regardless.
"I've been on the PearlSpace board of directors for almost 10 years now … and I probably came on when it was made apparent to me that one out of four Canadian women will experience some sort of sexual harassment or sexual assault in their life," says Horn, who also plays for the Handsome Men. "Mark Carney said the other night on Jon Stewart's show that we're the best country in the world. I'd like to think we are, but with that kind of statistic I don't think we are.
"We started this concert last year because we as a band wanted to celebrate women as men: women's songs, women singers, bringing attention to that as best we could without stepping on their toes on Women's Day."
According to Nedelak, Whistler's inaugural IWD fundraising event was held in 2015 at Black's Pub with Susan Holden as the original organizer. Dusty's Bar hosted the next two before the 2018 and 2019 editions went to the Maury Young Arts Centre. Horn and company are responsible for reviving the show after the pandemic.
"Whistler has done a great job of celebrating International Women's Day over the years," Bruce remarks. "We're so lucky to have an organization like PearlSpace that is doing amazing work in our community. Even though our resort town is a playground for a lot of people, others are still living their real lives here—which means women are still being impacted by domestic abuse, assault, harassment, all of these things."
Promoting awareness
Formerly known as the Howe Sound Women's Centre, PearlSpace changed names in September 2023 to better reflect the scope and essence of its mission throughout the Sea to Sky area. However, not everybody kept up with the rebrand.
"I think that name change, especially in Whistler, has had a slightly slow uptake with [people still thinking of] the Howe Sound Women's Centre," Horn says. "It's been a bit of a disconnect, so this event and some other events we've done are about promoting awareness of PearlSpace."
In 2024, the Handsome Men held their first IWD concert at Alpine Café: playing female-written or popularized songs while inviting four ladies (including Bruce) on stage as well. Things culminated in a joint tribute to the Highwomen, a country music supergroup featuring Brandi Carlisle, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires.
It went well, to say the least.
"That was the first time I had been in the newly renovated Alpine Café," recalls Bruce. "Seeing it absolutely jam-packed. By the time I showed up, they wouldn't have let me through the doors if I wasn't a performer. I work at the [Whistler Public Library] so I interact with the public a lot, and there was so much chatter about the event. I was really excited when Tony let us know we were going to be at Dusty's this year so we could fit even more people in."
'Get more women involved'
Each of the upcoming show's eight female musicians will present two pieces of music. Some plan to collaborate with the Handsome Men on a few choice songs.
Anticipate Soul Club to kick the festivities off with a set of 1970s-era ladies' soul music (think Aretha Franklin). Don't forget about DJ Lon and Foxy Moron's nightcap, which will have a gender equity flavour to it as they alternate behind the turntables.
"The big thing we wanted to do first of all was to get more women involved," explains Horn. "For myself personally, it feels important for men to show reverence toward women on Women's Day and really promote that equality piece. The other thing: I feel like Canada's in an existential crisis right now, and what's going to pull us out of that is community.
"We don't have churches in Canada anymore, really. We don't have a way for people to gather, share views and share love for something. I think the more that we do on a small scale, [the more it will] strengthen our country bit by bit."
Bruce adds: "In a small town like this, it can also be hard to reach out for that kind of help [regarding gender-based abuse] if you're worried you're going to know somebody on the other end of the line. Reducing stigma around these things and knowing we have this great organization PearlSpace offering services to people here … we do kind of need a reality check."
Although the IWD concert remains sold out as of this writing, Horn encourages people to get on the waitlist just in case. That can be found here and more details about PearlSpace are viewable here.
