PENDLETON — Classic blues echoed Saturday, Sept. 4,from the Heritage Station Museum in Pendleton as musicians, veterans and community members gathered together to support wounded veterans.

Country and southern rock musician Steven Kidwell organized the inaugural Veterans Benefit and Music Festival. The event found veterans from nearly every generation attending, ranging from those who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars to Iraq and Afghanistan.

All proceeds from the event went to the Gary Sinise Foundation to help support veterans, first responders and their families with an emphasis on the wounded.

“This is something that’s near and dear to my heart,” said Kidwell, who is a veteran of the Iraq War and whose father served in Korea. “It’s a way of giving back for people that have given so much.”

Kidwell’s passion for veterans showed through the constant work and effort he sunk into the event, working seven days a week for the last month-and-a-half to spread the word among veterans and supporters. He had been doing benefits for veteran suicide prevention and the Wounded Warrior Project for years, but this was the first time doing something on this scale, said Kidwell’s wife, Carolyn Rovier.

Jaye Cammann, Kidwell’s manager, was excited going into the event, saying this was the most patriotic way they could give back to those who had served.

Cammann said when you have the passion and love that Kidwell has, “miraculous things can happen in a short manner of time.”

Vendors including the Midway Bar & Grill, Hermiston Chimu’s Tacos, Pendleton, and the Pendleton Eagles Lodge also attended and donated portions of their proceeds to the foundation. Others in the business community were eager to help, donating extra fencing and custom banners and the huge American flag and the lift holding aloft.

The lineup for the event showcased regional talent, with Steve Campbell, a solo Americana musician out of La Grande, Jagged Edge, a rock band out of the Tri-Cities, and the Vaughn Jensen Experience out of Eastern Washington performing blues out of Eastern Washington. Kidwell himself was the headliner.

Additionally, the event hosted a silent auction with close to 80 donations from local businesses and merchants. Some of the items on auction included professional mechanics tools, two round-trip airplane tickets to Portland, overnight stays, expensive meals and wine. All proceeds from the auction went to the foundation.

“There’s something for everybody,” Rovier said.

“We’ve had a huge huge outpouring of everything from everybody,” Kidwell said, “and they are just hugely appreciated.”

Originally, Kidwell and his wife were going to host the event at their six-acre property and have a few people over, but then it grew and continued to grow. Eventually, their property wasn’t going to be feasible and they found the Heritage Station Museum, which agreed to play host.

“It’s amazing. It’s absolutely amazing,” Rovier said. “We’ve not done anything like this on this large a scale. And it’s just taken off and grown and it’s been a real pleasure.”

Many of the veterans who attended felt that special connection and were appreciative that Kidwell had gone through the effort to do so much for them.

Paul Rabitaille, a Vietnam veteran who joined the Army in 1970 and spent exactly seven years, 11 months, 28 days and 16 hours in the military, loved his time serving. He loved meeting different people, learning about other cultures and especially eating all sorts of food.

From the dried cuttlefish that he’d snack on throughout the day or the spiraled pineapples, Rabitaille spoke highly of his time in the service. “It was definitely a time in my life I didn’t regret,” he said.

But, “When we came home we did not come home to accolades,” Rabitaille said. Instead, they were faced with derision and disdain.

“This, in a lot of ways, makes up for the disrespect,” he said.

And, with recent news rolling out of Afghanistan, veterans need more support than ever now, Kidwell said.

“The Gary Sinise Foundation, the Wounded Warrior program, the veteran suicide awareness program, all of those things are essential,” Kidwell said. “And it’s going to become more and more important as the days go on here.”

Clifford Smith, a Vietnam veteran who served as a medic in 1971 until 1972 with the 67th Evac Hospital, said it was really good what Kidwell was doing to honor veterans — especially as comparisons between Afghanistan and Vietnam make headlines across the country.

“It’s really upsetting the way things have happened,” Smith said. “Basically it’s just about like Vietnam, when we pulled out of there.”

Smith, who spent his service working in the intensive care unit taking care of amputees and wounded soldiers, felt Kidwell’s event was even more powerful with proceeds going to the Gary Sinise Foundation.

“It’s great what he’s doing for us,” Smith said, “for all veterans.”