Contributed

Mike Pitts and his bandmates in Jukebox Rehab have Saturday circled on their calendars. It’s the day they bring their old country sound to Nazareth Child & Family Connection’s 113th Annual Fun Fest.

The festival is 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 725 Crescent Road, Rockwell.

And it’s a day they have looked forward to for quite a while.

“We’ve all done events like this, fundraisers, while we were with other groups,” Pitts said. “This is the first one we’ve done together. It’s something we look forward to. And I guarantee we’ll bring a good show.”

Jukebox Rehab is one half of the day’s entertainment. Prior to its performance in the afternoon, Darrell Harwood will bring his high-energy country show back to Fun Fest for a second straight year from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Fun Fest is Nazareth’s largest fundraiser each year. In addition to live music, there will be one the area’s largest car shows, a craft and vendor show, a cornhole tournament (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), a kids’ zone, a silent auction featuring more than 100 items from local businesses and vendors that have been donated, including sports paraphernalia from N.C. State, the Carolina Hurricanes, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Carolina Panthers.

And, of course, there will be lots of food options.

The final activity of the day is the most anticipated: the drawing to give away a new Ford Focus or $10,000 in cash, donated by Cloninger Ford Toyota of Salisbury.

“Fun Fest is a great, fun way to bring the community together on our campus for a lot of good family fun,” said Vernon Walters, president and CEO of Nazareth Child & Family Connection. “We are so appreciative that the community comes out and shows us so much support through Fun Fest.”

Though formed just 15 months or so ago, Jukebox Rehab has been performing up and down the East Coast. Typically, it plays five or six nights a week and stays booked weeks in advance.

“We’ve accomplished as much in a year as many new bands do in three or five years,” said Pitts, the group’s drummer. “For us, it’s because of experience. We’ve all played in different bands for a long time, we’ve traveled with other bands. We decided we were going to do this smart.”

One of those “smart” things they did was to base their act in older country music, which has proved to be popular with fans.

“We play a bunch of ’80s and ’90s country covers. The songs we are writing and covering are the same, that older country,” said Pitts, noting while members of the group come from varied genres musically, they are solid musicians who love the brand of music they produce these days.

“Everyone can expect a really good show,” Pitts said of the Winston-Salem-based band. “We always give 100 percent. We love to entertain and sing songs that people know. Fans can expect a good time … we make sure the have a good time and forget some of the things they are going through.”

Raffle tickets for the Ford Focus or $10,000 can be purchased by visiting www.nazcfc.org or by visiting the agency’s Outlet and Thrift Store on Innes Street in Salisbury. They can also be purchased by calling Blair Wilson at 704-754-3802.

In addition to the Ford Focus or $10,000 grand prize, a $1,000 VISA card will be awarded to second place in the drawing, a 65-quart RTIC cooler to third, a $200 gift certificate to Great Wolf Lodge to fourth and a Ring Video Doorbell for fifth.

— Nazareth Child
& Family Connection