FAIRMONT– The Extreme Tour will be making a series of stops in Fairmont this week as a part of its 2022 Heartland/East series of events and performances.

The tour is a nonprofit Christian outreach project that makes stops in large and small communities across the United States.

The main event will be held at the Sylvania Park Band Shell on Friday from about 5 pm to 10 p.m. Due to a schedule change there will be some additional events in advance of the main performance on Friday. There will be a popup concert at the skate park on Wednesday featuring live music and prizes at approximately 7 p.m. On Thursday there will be another popup concert at 3 p.m. at Graffiti Corner. All events are free and appropriate for all ages.

While organizers hope to have food trucks present at the main event on Friday, attendees who plan to eat during performances may want to bring their own food in case concessions are unavailable.

Fairmont resident Jamie Kueker has helped organize the event and has facilitated the tour stop in Fairmont the last four visits.

“I just felt God has called me to bring something positive to our event, something that’s free, and something that’s family friendly. Everything I’ve always done has had a level of faith to it,” said Keuker.

“It’s an event aimed at the community, all ages, all financial backgrounds, no matter what the family situation or dynamic is, everybody’s welcome. We encourage everybody to come out and be a part of the community and be part of the event.”

The event will feature five acts, a majority of which will be Christian music but there will also be spoken word and secular performances. The organizers of the event and the performers are unpaid volunteers who fundraise the costs of expenses themselves.

“These artists don’t get paid to do this, they’re totally depending on people like me to fundraise the funding that they need, and then they do their own fundraising for gas, food, showers, laundry and stuff like that … The Fairmont Covenant Church as a whole has been very helpful behind the scenes, and members of the congregation have made silent contributions to help bring (the tour) here again so we can reach out to the community,” said Kueker.

Some fundraising was also done by kids attending Vacation Bible School (VBS).

“Their mission for the kids was to fund the Extreme Tour … and their goal was to fundraise $200 and they exceeded that in the week that they had by raising $300. … That was really cool to see,” said Kueker.

“(The artists on the tour are) performers, but they’re not going to be coming here with big egos and going ‘if you don’t have a pass you can’t even talk to me.’ I was kidding around with some of the VBS kids and I said ‘I’m going to get you backstage passes,” said Kueker.

While this was initially meant as a joke, after talking with a friend Kueker decided to make backstage passes and set up a ‘backstage’ area for visitors to sit and talk with performers. Kueker also plans to bring the event back next year.

“Next year is going to be the fifth year that I bring it here and I’d to make it a bigger celebration for the community and see what I can do to make it bigger than it already is.”