`Irish' will raise money for Rauscher Farm purchase.

Byline: John Weeks

CLINTON - Proponents of having the town purchase the 62 acre, $2.75 million Rauscher property are keeping their promise to raise money. Thanks to the Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust and its official grass roots counterpart, the Friends of Rauscher Farm, the Billy Walsh Band will bring its take on Irish music and classic rock and roll to Town Hall Saturday night.

"I am very excited to have them perform," said Frannie Hodge, president of the conservation trust. "The first half of the show will be mainly songs from their new Irish CD. The second half will be rock and roll. There will be a lot of familiar Irish tunes as well as ones you may not know. And then they will play a lot of rock, like the Beatles."

Tickets are $20 for a reserved seat at a table on the Town Hall floor ($120 to reserve a table for six) and $15 for general admission in the balcony. Tickets are available at Sunrise Boutique, the Wachusett Chamber of Commerce, the selectmen's office in Town Hall and online at www.clintongreenway.org.

Hodge said ticket proceeds as well as half of the money brought in through sale of the band's new album will go toward lightening the taxpayer burden for purchasing the land.

Voters have given consent for the purchase three times. At the 2006 Town Meeting, voters approved borrowing money to make the down payment. At Town Meeting last year, they approved going through with the purchase and then they approved the override to fund it at a special election. Throughout this process Hodge and other proponents promised to raise as much money as possible through grant applications and fundraising. The town is currently moving forward to close on the property and claim a $353,000 Self-Help Grant from the state.

"We are always working to hold benefits for Rauscher Farm," Hodge said. "And we've been thinking for a number of years about doing an annual event for the Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust. That's how the concert came together. Billy Walsh was very generous. He's donating his time to do the concert and half of all CD sales will go to Rauscher as well."

"Irish," the latest album from the Billy Walsh Band, features 17 tracks of Irish music and will be sold for $10 during the concert on Saturday.

"They're letting us sell it a discounted rate," Hodge said. "It will be more like $15 when it hits stores."

Hodge listened to an advance copy of the CD.

"It has very beautiful sounds," she said. "There are parts of the CD where each musician has the ability to highlight his music. Billy's vocals are beautiful and there is amazing harmony."

Gloria Parkinson, a member of the Friends of Rauscher Farm, said the concert is not the first fundraiser and will not be the last.

"Ever since the overwhelming vote on Sept. 12, 2007, to fund this purchase, we didn't even catch our breath," she said. "We've kept it up."

Parkinson said fundraisers raised about $2,000 with a special showing of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Strand in February and plan to hold a special town picnic in June. The money raised may not seem substantial when put next to the $2.75 million price tag of the property, but Parkinson said awareness is half the battle.

"It's not all about the money," she said. "These events allow us to share information and build excitement. With the Rauscher land, we will finally have someplace in Clinton to go. There's really no place to ride a bike or to get our teens to go for an hour and get away from the X-box. Central Park is beautiful, but it isn't a big play place. This will allow people to reconnect with the natural world."

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: The CD cover from the Billy Wash Band's new effort, `Irish.'