On Saturday, Oct. 5, it seemed as if the entire town of Johnston came together to celebrate the life of one of their own, Mike Burr, a.k.a. “Burr.”
Tragically, Mike passed away Sept. 7, along with his dog, that unfortunately passed away two weeks later.
In an effort to help his family pay for funeral expenses and to just celebrate the life of Burr, his two friends, Stephanie Breckel and Wayne Russo put together an epic fundraiser in three weeks.
This event took place at Bishop Hill Tavern in Johnston. As a testament to how loved and well-known Mike is, Stephanie and Wayne were able to sell over 300 tickets! And almost every person came!
The moment you walked in the doors, you were greeted with a huge cardboard cutout of Mike playing the harmonica and a huge bucket of rubber ducks, as Mike loved his Jeep!
The next room was completely full from wall to wall with gift baskets, flat-screen TVs and numerous other raffle items. Mike had a larger-than-life personality and always seemed to know someone wherever he went. Mike didn’t judge a soul and he had a special relationship with every person he would meet.
For the event, Stephanie and Wayne received over 100 gift baskets and gift certificates from local businesses and one of them truly touched many.
Ashley Andrade, The Ancient Dove, is a psychic medium who works out of Brewed Awakenings, which happens to be where you could always find Mike! Ashley shared to Facebook days after Mike’s death a visit she received from him.
“His soul is at peace, and he is aware of the love and all the people’s lives he touched along the way,” she wrote.
During the event, you could find many different activities and cardboard cutouts of Mike absolutely everywhere. They even had a cutout of Mike that you could snap a selfie with! Steph and Wayne truly outdid themselves and were able to raise just under $12,000!
Mike is, was and always will be Johnston!
Bishop Hill Tavern, and Tom and Denise Breckel are to thank for covering all cost. All of the staff also donated over 10 hours of their time to make this possible. Also, Mike’s friend Judd donated the use of his photo booth and controlled all of the live music! Everyone played a huge roll in this amazing fundraiser. Let the music play!
