A concert, dinner — and a cure.

That’s what organizers of a weekend show at the Brickhouse restaurant are advertising — and hoping for.

Members of the community are invited to retreat from the heat by attending a concert fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training Program. The event features several local bands, food, dancing and more than 100 raffle items.

The Summer Music Fest takes place from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Brickhouse, 152 N. Hockett St., Porterville.

Heidi Prado and Dawn Vinning, physician assistants at Sequoia Family Medical Center, said the event is free based on donations from about 60 local businesses.

Prado and Vinning are co-organizers of the event.

“[People] can come in and cool off because it’s going to be hot on Sunday,” Vinning said. “So you have a cool place to hang out — in more than one way.”

Ken Nordin and the High Sierra Band, The Wildoats Band, Big Bad Wolf, and Rythm are among the bands donating their time to perform. Raffles will include prizes of $1, $5 and $10. Some of the $10 prizes include a GPS system, digital camera, mp3 player, dental cleaning and gold necklace.

“Porterville has been very generous in donating items. It’s overwhelming. So we really want people to be there to enjoy it,” Vinning said.

That way, she said, the entertainment and camaraderie come at no cost to those who attend.

“So you can hang out and listen to the concert all day and not pay anything,” Prado said.

The Brickhouse is donating chicken and tri-tip dinners for $10; the money goes directly to the Central California Chapter of LLS’s Team In Training program.

TNT is the world’s largest endurance sports training program. It provides weekly training sessions and arrangements for participants to attend major marathon, triathlon and century bike ride events in the U.S. and abroad. Members collect money through sponsorships and other fundraisers that go toward the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for blood cancer research, providing education and patient services primarily for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

Prado and a team of about 20 runners from the Central Valley are gearing up and heading to San Fransisco in October to attend the 26.2 mile Nike Women’s Marathon. As a participant, Prado has agreed to raise money for the LLS, which arranges airfare and lodging for attending endurance events to its TNT members.

Vinning, also a TNT runner, is preparing to attend an event next year. So, “hopefully, this [Summer Music Fest] is the first of many more times,” she said.

The Central California team, in addition to raising money, selects individuals who are diagnosed with cancer to run in honor of. For this event, the team is honoring Samantha Cushing and Catherine Giber, both in remission from Hodgkin’s disease.

When it came to finding business supporters for the Summer Music Fest, Vinning said, many were eager to participate because they have experienced a loss due to cancer. The disease is pervasive, and it affects people of all ages, she said.

“[Cancer] has impacted Porterville,” Vinning said. “Porterville has such a big heart, so people who want to help out will be the big draw [for this event]. I’m anticipating everybody having fun and coming out and participating.”

“In short, we’re having this concert to find a cure, to help the people who have been afflicted by these diseases,” she said.

-- Contact Sabrina Ziegler at 784-5000 or sziegler@portervillerecorder.com.