Gone Country, Year by Year

Gone Country didn’t start big. It started with two teenagers trying to help their mom pay the bills. Here’s how it grew, year by year, as far as the organisers and local papers have recorded it. Where two sources disagree on a number, we show both.

Before Gone Country

Chris and Jamie Ruscheinski were in high school when their mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. TCF dates its first fundraisers to 1999: nights at nightclubs that raised close to $3,000 to help with her costs. After she died, the twins moved the party to a backyard, with a barbecue and a raffle. That first one raised $22,000; Chris has told the story of carrying it to the Canadian Cancer Society in cash, in a shoebox.

The backyard parties kept growing. Along the way TCF ran other events, including 100G for Shaun G in 2010, for a close friend who died of cancer, which TCF says raised more than $200,000. By 2013 the twins had raised more than half a million dollars, and they had an idea for something much bigger. Jamie suggested a country concert. They asked Langley-raised singers Aaron Pritchett and Dallas Smith to play, and both said yes.

The Cloverdale years

2013. The first Gone Country – Here for the Cure, on July 27 at what was then the Cloverdale Millennium Amphitheatre. Aaron Pritchett, Dallas Smith and Langley’s Karen Lee Batten were on the bill. The local paper counted it as TCF’s seventh annual fundraiser. The total reported the following spring was about $183,000; TCF’s own history now lists $198,000.

2014. Chad Brownlee, Brett Kissel and Karen Lee Batten, on July 26. More than 4,000 people came and it raised $215,000. Surrey RCMP reported a well-behaved crowd.

2015. Nashville’s Blackjack Billy headlined on July 25, with Tebey. The money was earmarked for an endoscopic ultrasound processor for the BC Cancer Agency, and the night raised $275,000, past its $250,000 goal. Jamie told the Langley Advance, “We raised $275,000. I still can’t believe it.”

2016. The fourth show, on July 23, with High Valley and Aaron Pritchett. About 4,200 people came. We couldn’t find a published total for this year; TCF’s running total passed $1.5 million around then.

2017. Tim Hicks headlined on July 22, with JoJo Mason. It was the first show to sell out completely, and it raised $520,000, thanks to about 200 volunteers.

2018. Gord Bamford and The Washboard Union, on July 21. It raised about $651,000 for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.

2019. Aaron Pritchett came back, with George Canyon, on July 20. It raised close to $822,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation.

2020 and 2021. Cancelled because of the pandemic.

2022. Back on July 23, sold out, with The Washboard Union, JoJo Mason and Karen Lee Batten. It raised a record of close to $842,000. Organisers said on Facebook they couldn’t find the words for how good it felt to be back.

2023. Tyler Joe Miller and The Reklaws, on July 22. TCF says it raised $1,007,000, the first night over a million. By the fall of 2023, Gone Country had also been named country event of the year at the BC Country Music Association awards.

2024. The tenth and final Cloverdale show, on July 20, with Dallas Smith closing it out and Chris Buck flying in from Nashville. Early-bird tickets sold out in 48 hours. TCF puts the crowd at about 7,000 and the total at $1,456,000.

Why it left Cloverdale

In 2023 the twins announced that 2024 would be the last big Cloverdale show. Chris told the Cloverdale Reporter they wanted to end at the top rather than let it fade, and that the twins were getting older and the core team had families, businesses and other commitments. Leftover funds were set aside for counselling for people affected by cancer. He also said, “TCF is not finished.”

It wasn’t. On the ticket page for the new event, TCF says it wanted something new after years of one big concert: a smaller, hyper-local Langley night in an immersive western town.

The Jamestown years

2025. The first Gone Country Jamestown, on June 7 at the Jamestown movie set on a farm in North Langley. It beat its $500,000 goal; the Aldergrove Star reported $654,000 and the Langley hospital foundation reports $625,000.

2026. On July 11, a sold-out crowd of about 3,000 filled the second Jamestown show. The James Barker Band headlined a new 60-foot main stage on the grass, with a second stage called the Outpost, and Karen Lee Batten’s team running most of the entertainment. Part of the money went to the campaign to upgrade the mammography clinic at Langley Memorial Hospital, where TCF has committed $1.2 million over three years. The hospital foundation says the night raised a record $970,000.

2027. Jamestown III is set for July 17. See our 2027 guide.

At a glance

Year	Venue	Headliners	Raised
2013	Cloverdale	Aaron Pritchett, Dallas Smith	about $183,000 (press) / $198,000 (TCF)
2014	Cloverdale	Chad Brownlee, Brett Kissel	$215,000
2015	Cloverdale	Blackjack Billy	$275,000
2016	Cloverdale	High Valley, Aaron Pritchett	not published
2017	Cloverdale	Tim Hicks	$520,000
2018	Cloverdale	Gord Bamford, The Washboard Union	about $651,000
2019	Cloverdale	Aaron Pritchett, George Canyon	about $822,000
2020–21	—	Cancelled (pandemic)	—
2022	Cloverdale	The Washboard Union	about $842,000
2023	Cloverdale	Tyler Joe Miller, The Reklaws	$1,007,000 (TCF)
2024	Cloverdale	Dallas Smith	$1,456,000 (TCF)
2025	Jamestown	not published	$654,000 (press) / $625,000 (hospital foundation)
2026	Jamestown	James Barker Band	$970,000
2027	Jamestown	to be announced	July 17, 2027

“Cloverdale” is the Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey. Totals are what organisers or partners announced shortly after each show.

Adding it all up

The running total depends on who’s counting and when. In March 2022 the Cloverdale Reporter put TCF’s total since 1999 at close to $3.9 million, and by December 2022 it was more than $4.7 million, the figure still shown on TCF’s Where We Donate page. In July 2026 the Langley Community Health and Hospital Foundation said TCF had raised more than $6 million over 20 years. We haven’t tried to add the yearly numbers ourselves, because a few years are missing.

More on Gone Country

• Gone Country and Twins Cancer Fundraising, the overview
• Gone Country Jamestown 2027: tickets, times, getting there
• Chris and Jamie Ruscheinski, the twins behind it
• Jamestown, the movie-set venue
• The 2027 event listing

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