December 11, 2023 I Event, Philanthropy
Island Music Co. Holiday String Giveaway Brings in 1.5K Pounds of Canned Food
Front row, from left: Ayla Havrilla, Elle Havrilla, Anna Grasso. Back row, from left: Adam Reiver, Nadine Reiver, Nicki Grasso, Holiday String Giveaway winner Thomas Shipman, store manager Jack McNutt, store owner Keith Grasso, Neil Zaza and Eric Lacovara.
Island Music Company in La Plata, Maryland, held its annual Holiday String Giveaway on Nov. 18. The event offered customers the ability to receive a free guitar restring by bringing in a non-perishable food donation to Island Music Company from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This year’s donations totaled up to be more than 1,500 pounds of food for Lifestyles of Maryland, an organization that helps local Maryland families.
Thomas Shipman was the event’s grand prize winner, taking home a new Taylor 114ce-S guitar after donating some 308.16 lbs of food.
“When we started planning the event earlier this year, I was very excited to bring the Holiday String Giveaway back to our community,” said Jack McNutt, Island Music Company’s store manager. “We haven’t hosted the event since 2019, and the response from everyone [who] showed up to donate or volunteer shows us that it was time to bring it back! It’s definitely the coolest food drive you’ll ever take part [in], and we’re happy to help those in need, especially during the holidays. I’m already looking forward to making next year’s Holiday String Giveaway bigger and better.”
This year’s event was sponsored by Ernie Ball, Taylor Guitars, Gator Cases, Ibanez, FU Tone, Music Man, D’Addario, Korg, Yamaha, Blackstar, Elixir Strings, DR Strings, Zildjian, Kala, Fender and Chick-fil-a. Award-winning artist Neil Zaza gave a live performance complete with dueling guitar solos with Island Music Company’s owner, Keith Grasso. Adam Reiver from FU Tone was onsite to provide tips on how to make your guitar sound better using FU Tone’s state-of-the-art guitar parts, Music Man representative, Eric Lacovara, brought in rare and unique Music Man guitars only for sale at the event, and Chick-Fil-A provided lunch for those waiting on their guitars to be restrung. The event also included a special event-only sale to kick off the holiday shopping.
