Q4A Cause
New FREE Family-Friendly BBQ and Concert Festival
New addition to 2019 Hall County Fair expecting 10,000-13,000 attendees

A new 3-day festival during Hall County Fair integrates barbeque, live music and drinks as a way to give back and make a real difference. Q4A Cause – Rockin’ Rib Revival will integrate all these activities with each day being presented by a different non-profit where all proceeds go to help each cause.

Q4A Cause is in conjunction with summer downtown concert series Hear Grand Island lining up Nebraska’s finest rock and blues bands. In addition, there will be upwards of four regional and national barbeque pitmasters and beverages being served at drink stations and a beer garden.

Hear Grand Island Founder and local restauranteur Brent Lindner said this has been a project he’s wanted to start for a long time.

“Grand Island Tourism called and said we should really look at this barbeque event because we’ve wanted to do one for years. I said let’s make it happen,” Lindner said. “As we started working on this, more and more people got involved. Everyone saw how big this could be and how big of an impact we could have.”

Q4A Cause is a free all-ages event with a mission to raise funds for four local non-profit organizations including the Grand Island Children’s Museum, Hope Harbor, GIPS Food for Thought, and Hear Grand Island. Throughout the weekend, these organizations will be accepting monetary and item donations; as well as, opportunities to learn more about the non-profits.

“Hear Grand Island has always given back at the weekly concerts and this event no different. It has always been integrated on what we’ve done,” Lindner said.

Lindner contacted the Grand Island Community Foundation to identify which nonprofits to feature. The goal was to touch on some really needed areas that are community and quality of life focused.

“Q4A Cause has selected four exciting causes in Hall County,” said Melissa Delaet, CEO of the Grand Island Community Foundation. “All these non-profits directly impact many individuals and it’s important for the community to support the work they are doing. Q4A Cause is a fun new opportunity that will get families to come out and show support.”

When Lindner was in the beginning stages of creating the event, it was originally on a smaller scale. After Corby Flagle, Executive Director of the Hall County Fair, got involved it grew to a new level. Event planners are anticipating crowds of 10,000 to 13,000 people over the duration of the weekend.

“I knew Hear Grand Island had some new activities last year and I was hoping there was some way we could bring a bunch of people together,” Flagle said.  “The fairgrounds can handle a larger crowd with activities going on for kids and grownups. I called Brent and we started having the conversation. I thought it would be good for everybody.”

Lindner has established a reputation of creating must-see events in Grand Island. In 2016, he and Chocolate Bar owner Sharena Anson started what would become the Hear Grand Island free summer concert series. That event has grown into 10 concerts held weekly on Fridays in Railside, Grand Island’s historic downtown district. Hear Grand Island will also be a part of the festival as the featured non-profit on Sunday.

Friday and Saturday features different non-profits with Friday benefiting the Grand Island Children’s Museum. Saturday will benefit Hope Harbor and GIPS Food for Thought. To close out the festival, Sunday’s event will include a non-denominational spiritual journey through music with inspirational works. Grand Island’s religious leaders will be giving sermons on the impact of music in our lives; whether through good or tough times. Hear Grand Island will also be providing ways to make music accessible to everyone.

Friday’s featured non-profit is the Grand Island Children’s Museum. Though it’s still in its infancy, the steering Committee’s vision is to create a museum representative of the community that engages family members from early childhood to grandparenthood, stimulating life-long curiosity and creativity through STEAM-based learning opportunities. Participating in Q4A Cause helps support community conversations, partnerships and data collection allowing Grand Island the opportunity to create the necessary foundation to develop a truly spectacular Children’s Museum.

Saturday’s event will benefit Hope Harbor and GIPS Food for Thought. Hope Harbor is a transitional Shelter that provides shelter, meals and intensive case management support services to the residents, whom are seeking permanent housing and stability. The organization accomplishes its mission by providing services to families experiencing homelessness. Hope Harbor meets their needs for safe shelter, meals, and supportive case management with a goal of obtaining permanent housing and becoming self-sufficient.

GIPS Food for Thought program was started in 2014 and has grown to be in all 17 schools. Each week, over 150 bags of food go home which includes a main dish, cereal, vegetable, fruit and snack. Twice a month Project Hunger provides a voucher for a free gallon of milk and a dozen of eggs. This program understands that education is key to break the cycle of poverty that plagues working poor families, but children can’t focus when hungry.

Large crowds from Grand Island and surrounding communities is always the main goal of Grand Island Tourism and will benefit the participating non-profits.

“There’s everything to love about this event,” said Brad Mellema, Executive Director of Grand Island Tourism. “We’ve long felt there was room in this town for a first-class BBQ fest of some kind. Now that we’ve partnered with some of the biggest institutions in Grand Island it’s happening in a huge way. I can hardly wait.”

Q4A Cause will be going on during the Hall County Fair from 5pm-11pm, Friday, July 12, 11am-11pm, Saturday, July 13, and 10am-3pm, Sunday, July 14. Music acts and food vendors will be announced in the coming weeks leading up to the festival.