Organizers of Bass Coast, an electronic music and art festival held annually at the Merritt festival grounds, have raised $21,100 to be donated to the Merritt Rotary Disaster Relief Fund and six local Indigenous bands to aid in relief efforts following the devastating flooding of Nov. 2021. 

Two charitable initiatives were launched in the wake of the flooding, with the hopes that the Bass Coast community could assist those impacted in the Nicola Valley. 

A GoFundMe surpassed its initial fundraising goal of $15,000 to bring in a total $21,100 and the Bass Coast music compilation earlier raised $1,000 for the Nicola Valley Food Bank. 

“The Bass Coast community came together to raise funds to support the host town of the festival,” said Bass Coast founders Andrea Graham and Liz Thomson.

“The generosity of the community was astonishing.” 

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bass Coast tickets were set to go on sale in November for the 2022 festival. Out of respect for the natural disaster Merritt found itself enduring, ticket sales were postponed until Feb. 10, 2022. 

 “We are very pleased to be releasing tickets this week for the upcoming festival in July,” said Graham and Thomson. 

“We postponed our original ticket launch in November out of concern for the Merritt community during the unexpected and disastrous floods.”

“The past two years have had plenty of ups and downs,” added Graham. 

“Each challenge has presented new opportunities to think creatively and collaboratively. We’re thrilled to be returning in 2022 and connecting further with the Merritt community.”