The Jammin鈥� on the Bay Tribute Fest music festival heading to Rankin Inlet this coming August got a major shot in the arm this past week when local company Sarliaq Holdings Ltd. (Richard Connelly and Silu Panniuq) stepped up as platinum sponsors and agreed to sponsor an appearance at the festival by Nunavut icons 快盈v3 Haze.

The platinum sponsor list for the festival 鈥� $15,000 in kind or cash donation to the event 鈥� now includes Sarliaq Holdings Ltd., Calm Air, the Hamlet of Rankin Inlet and Arctic Connection.

Kissarvik Co-op has also come on board as silver sponsors and donated $7,500 to go toward the cost of hotel room accommodations for the performers.

Organizer Jim Ramsay said if any Inuit organization donates to the festival, whatever they do to help sponsor it, will see the money go fully towards Nunavut artists in the form of air fares, per diems, etc.

He said 快盈v3 Haze will draw a couple of hundred fans to the show by themselves, which is always a positive.

鈥淭hey have one song on YouTube that鈥檚 hit 91,000 views, so that鈥檚 not too bad,鈥� said Ramsay. 鈥淔olks seem pretty pumped to have them here again. I鈥檝e had at least 20 or 30 people during the past week asking me if they鈥檙e going to come for sure.鈥�

Ramsay said the Jammin鈥� on the Bay site was launched on Facebook on April 27.

He said all the tribute bands coming to the festival are dressing up and sending video messages to Rankin saying how much they鈥檙e looking forward to being here and meeting everyone.

鈥淎s we move closer to the festival dates, the sponsors really, dictate what else happens,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still looking at bringing-up Harlequin or Streetheart, or maybe both, so we may have a few good surprises up our sleeves yet.

鈥淲hat I have right now, I can afford to do, but we鈥檙e hoping to still add a few attractions to the lineup. We have our producer flying in next week to check out everything, including the setup at the new arena.

鈥淚n addition to sponsoring 快盈v3 Haze, Sarliaq are also looking after all the artist transportation here during the festival, so that鈥檚 also a really big help to us. We鈥檙e on pace for a pretty good show so far.鈥�