Being a mother, writing music, giving music lessons, and performing throughout the week as a solo artist and with her band Whoa, Man! certainly means Sunny Taylor has no time to put together one of the coolest events we’ve seen in Fort Wayne, right? 

Wrong! 

In fact, the multi-Whammy winner, a former award handed out by Whatzup to local talent, has invested what little free time she has for an exciting event at The Clyde Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 20. 

She Rocks the Fort will bring a festival-type atmosphere to the venue with some of the area’s top female performers, local female-owned businesses, raffles, and guitar giveaways. 

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this and make an impact in our community,” Taylor said. “With Whoa, Man! we get to play a lot of smaller towns, and a lot of the times we are breaking attendance records, and we get to see first-hand how that impacts the food trucks, local businesses, and so on. 

“It was that sort of stuff that had us asking, ‘What can we do for Fort Wayne? How can we make an impact in our community?’ ” 

Worthy cause

With the wheels turning and also having a vision of helping women suffering from domestic abuse, on a whim Taylor reached out to Jennifer’s Harbor founder and executive director Deb King about partnering up. 

For those that don’t know, Jennifer’s Harbor is a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing domestic and sexual violence. Through advocacy for survivors and family members, they raise awareness, provide emotional support, and offer ongoing life coaching. 

She Rocks the Fort will help raise money for Abie’s Haven, Jennifer’s Harbor’s short-term crisis housing for women and children escaping domestic and sexual violence. 

With one in three women in Allen County a victim of domestic violence, it’s a pretty serious deal, and this housing is surely a blessing. 

Taylor told Whatzup she recently witnessed the importance of Jennifer’s Harbor when a woman come up to her after a show and thanked her and the band for working with the organization and told her how they saved her life. 

Another time, a lady at one of their shows gave her a check on the spot to give to Jennifer’s Harbor. 

Both were humbling experiences. 

Money from ticket sales and the raffles that evening will go straight to supporting this great organization. 

In addition, King said the community involvement has been outstanding thus far, with many organizations and churches already assisting with everything from blankets, socks, and so on. 

Lending their time

Performers that evening will supply a great mix of rock, pop, and country. 

Donating their time to supply all the good music that night alongside Whoa, Man! will be Rylie Lynn Band with Grace Scott, HomeBy10, deeja, Angie Marquardt, Patti Whitemoss, and Big Caddy Daddy. 

Also taking the mic will be emcee Jack Hammer of 96.3 FM. 

“Jack is a good guy with a heart of gold and would give his guitar-playing hand to help anyone in need,” Taylor said. “We are lucky to have him.” 

As for the goodies, there will be several donated items that will be up for raffle. There will also be Vendor Bingo, where you will try to fill up your bingo card by getting a sticker from each vendor you visit in addition to making at least two purchases. This will get you entered for the guitar giveaways that include a PRS SE Silver Sky John Mayer model and a Venus guitar. 

The music begins at 6 p.m., but doors open to 5 p.m., which is good news for those that like to hit the road a little early while still getting in on the action. 

But if you’re like the majority, you will want to soak in every minute. 

“It’s going to be an exciting and amazing evening with the music while bringing the community together to educate and for domestic survivors to hang out and perhaps share their stories,” King said.

“We’re bringing a hard topic to light in a fun way.” 

More ways to help

In addition to Taylor and King, this event could not be made possible without the help of Casey Bishop of Bloomfest, who is helping with social media/marketing, and Sara Loshe of Solfest and Healing Hands Night Market as vendor coordinator. All their hard work is about to pay off. 

Do yourself a favor and head to The Clyde on Oct. 20. She Rocks the Fort will be a great opportunity to showcase and celebrate female musicians, entrepreneurs, and creatives from around the area — all while raising funds for a great cause. 

Who knows? Maybe this will become an annual event. 

After speaking with Taylor, that may very well become reality. Her groupies (aka the Whoadies) won’t be the only ones stoked if that were to happen. 

Other ways to get support Abie’s Haven are financial contributions, Abie’s Haven Safe House wishlist on Amazon, or by attending or sponsor an event. Your generous contributions will help furnish their emergency housing facility, creating a secure and nurturing environment for both survivors and their little one during their stay. 

You can learn more at jennifersharbor.org.