Tracy Lawrence, cold beverages and helping others enjoy the outdoors - what more could country music lovers ask for?
The inaugural CalMo Country Fest will welcome the country icon, who created hits like "Time Marches On" and "Texas Tornado," June 2 at the Moniteau County Fairgrounds.
Missouri acts Murphy's Ford and Halle Kearns also will grace the stage, along with California's own southern rockers, Bourbon Creek.
Gates open at 5 p.m., and Lawrence is scheduled to end his set at about 11 p.m.
The event is organized, produced and promoted by local resident Travis Bax. The founder of the foundation, Giving a Better Life, created the concert to raise money for people in wheelchairs to better enjoy the outdoors.
With an all-terrain wheelchair, Bax said, people can access the outdoors, away from the roads in the center of nature, where they can hunt or hike.
"I had an accident back in 1998 that put me in a wheelchair," Bax said. "I've got people in my family who hunt and go fishing, and I love going hunting, and there's just not a lot of other people (in wheelchairs) who can.
"What I'm trying to do is raise money to start a foundation to purchase these all-terrain wheelchairs for people to go out and enjoy the conservation land, or even their own land, to go hunting and fishing just to improve their lives."
Bax hopes to make the festival an annual event that entwines his love of country music and the outdoors. He hopes to pay for expenses in ticket fees and give all of the money raised from food and alcohol sales to the cause of purchasing all-terrain vehicles for the foundation.
He feels this work is important because most insurance plans don't provide these wheelchair models, which are deemed to be a want rather than a need. However, for parents in families who love the outdoors, missing time in nature is missing time with your children, as well.
The Bax family lived in Kansas City for 12 years and moved to California about a year and a half ago, partially because his 13-year-old sons wanted more chances to hunt and fish.
"When I was (in Kansas City), I didn't have access to land. I had to go on conservation land. But in order to do that, I had to have a four-wheeler. Well, you can't take four-wheelers on conservation land, so I was stuck."
Organizing the event has been a lot more labor than the rookie promoter thought it would be, but Bax said working with the musical artists has been great, and he loves the idea of starting a new tradition that will bring people to his community.
It was fortunate that one of his favorite artists just so happened to be coming through the area on his way back to Nashville, Tennessee, from a gig in Nebraska and was happy to stop in town with his band to play an extra show for such a good cause.
"I've always been a huge fan of Tracy Lawrence, and it's always been a dream of mine to have a concert, and the fairgrounds here at California, Missouri is the perfect place to do it."