Musician Barney Martin will perform in concert Saturday night to benefit Scarborough High School’s Project Graduation.
A performer for over 40 years and the father of a soon-to-be SHS graduate, Martin will play a set of 70s tunes for the event at the high school, which will also include a raffle for a two-night stay at an Airbnb in the Pine Point neighborhood, donated by another high school parent. Proceeds from ticket sales, concessions and the raffle will go to an overnight, chaperoned celebration for graduates following their June 9 commencement ceremony.
After years in groups, Martin recently returned to performing as a solo acoustic act and has gotten a great response from audience members of all ages, he said.
“Of course, a lot of my demographic is older, but a lot of the younger kids have been raised on this music and actually know it,” Martin said. “I get everybody singing, and it’s fantastic to me to get that response because I love interacting with the crowd.”
Martin said he’ll also provide some music history throughout the performance about how the songs were written and recorded.
Jahn Noonan, a Project Graduation committee member who also has a senior graduating this year, said attending Saturday’s benefit concert is a form of a graduation gift.
“It’s almost like a community gift to these kids, and it couldn’t be done without the many people on the Project Graduation committee and parents like Barney that help out,” Noonan said.
Following the commencement ceremony at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, the graduates will be bused back to the high school.
“They get into more comfortable clothes, we put them on another bus, and then whisk them away until about 4 in the morning to an undisclosed location,” Noonan said.
She said the location of the celebration is undisclosed “for safety and also for the suspense and fun of it all.”
“We feed them and they are typically hungry – it’s been a long day at that point – and we give them lots of fun activities for this group that will probably never all be together again. This is their last hurrah.”
At its core, Project Graduation is a mission to ensure the safety of teens on a celebratory occasion.
“They’re given a very fun night, but I don’t think it’s on the forefront of their mind that there’s a safety aspect to it,” Noonan said.
“Graduating night is certainly not the same way it was for me when I graduated,” Martin said. “It’s a whole lot safer when you’ve got a situation like this going on.”
Tickets to Saturday’s benefit concert are $12 for adults and $7 for students and will be available at the door or in advance at tinyurl.com/yeys8jej. Raffle tickets can be purchased at the concert with cash or Venmo.
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