Ashland TKE's have many bands at their 5th annuel TKE Fest to benifit Alzheimer's

[The1calledTKE]

ASHLAND -- Local bands rocked Redwood Hall at Ashland University for a good cause Friday night.

Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity kicked off its fifth annual TKE Fest to benefit the Alzheimer's Association of Northwest Ohio, through donations at the door.

Participants included Supple, Peachbones, Bonneville Sunrise, Eight Hour Blink and Seventh Echo. Most of the bands were made up of mostly AU students or alumni.

"One-hundred percent of the donations go into the Alzheimer's (Association)," TKE President Stephen Dreikorn said.

"All bands do everything free of charge."

"I've known TKE for a while ... and I really like their philosophy," said Supple band member Josh Painter, who said his grandmother has the disease.

Alzheimer's, which affects more than 4 million Americans, has been the fraternity's philanthropy for the past five years, Dreikorn said.

Before that, it was the Special Olympics. He said it was switched because the fraternity learned former President Ronald Reagan, who suffers from Alzheimer's, belonged to the 104-year-old fraternity.

According to Dreikorn, TKE is the largest social fraternity in the world.

He said the fraternity hopes to surpass the sum of last year's donations, which was about $250.

This year's fest had fewer bands than last year's count of seven. The concert was broadcast on WRDL/Eagle.

While TKE member Keith Krajcer suspected most were there for the entertainment, fellow member, Peter Franaszek hopes the reason behind the concert hits home.

"I hope they are at least more aware," he said.

TKE Fest was sponsored by several local businesses and included a drawing for a leather jacket donated by Crazy Ray's Tattoos in Ashland