LJWorld.com / Musicians to help promote breast cancer awareness

Archive for Sunday, July 14, 2002

July 14, 2002

A young woman visiting Lawrence for the summer is organizing a concert to help women with breast cancer.

Breastfest will begin at 3 p.m. July 21 at Abe and Jake's Landing, Sixth and New Hampshire streets. Headliners are The Band That Saved the World, Autumn Dog, Vibralux and Captain Overreact. Proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Action and to update publications at the Lawrence Public Library.

Breastfest will begin at 3 p.m. July 21 at Abe and Jake's, Sixth and New Hampshire streets.

On the lineup are The Band That Saved the World, Autumn Dog, Vibralux and Captain Overreact.

Admission is $5 at the door.

Lara Hermanson, a musician from Chicago, said she is organizing the event because it just seemed like the right thing to do while she was hanging out in Lawrence.

Hermanson has a long history of activism. Her family includes several social workers: Her mother ran a half-way house for divorced women; an aunt worked with battered women; an uncle served as the spiritual adviser for inmates on death row.

"I did my first Breastfest when I was in high school," she said, describing a fund-raiser she staged in her back yard in Chicago. "We raised $400."

Hermanson hopes Lawrence's Breastfest will be a celebration of women's health and help promote awareness of breast cancer. Most of all, she wants it to be a good time.

In between performances by the bands, area singer-songwriters, street performers and representatives of various organizations will take the stage. Also, sugar cookies shaped like breasts will be available.

"I wanted it to be goofy and fun," she said.

Hermanson will return to Chicago a couple of days after Breastfest knowing that she did something worthwhile during her stay here.

"It just makes me feel good," she said.