The entertainment schedule is filled and most of the volunteers are in place for the Weyburn and District United Way's 19th annual Communithon fund-raiser, to be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27 and 28 at the Legion Hall.

"Everything is right on schedule. The announcers are all booked, the telephone people are booked. The only thing is we could use some volunteers for the audio, for running the sound board," said Communithon chairman Jerry Ponto.

The sound board controls the sound both for the event at the Legion Hall, and for the live broadcast over the community access channel.

The theme this year will be, "Together We Care," which is appropriate given the United Way's goal to support its 16 member agencies, said Ponto.

"The motto indicates the bonding together of the agencies, and of the community to support them," he said.

There will be 33 hours of broadcasting altogether, with the entertainment schedule including many of the groups and singers who performed last year, such as school and community choirs and groups.

One new group for this year is a youth rock band from the Weyburn Comp, called Linger; they will play after midnight on Friday, said Ponto.

Richard Roy will be returning as Captain United, while Jennifer Vinck is new in the role of Miss Charity. They will be at the Communithon for most of its duration, helping to put up new numbers as the fund-raiser goes along, and will also attend some of the events leading up to Communithon.

The opening ceremonies will kick the event off at 8 a.m. on Friday morning, and it will end at 5 p.m. on Saturday, with the goal this year set for $108,200. The funds are divided among the 16 member agencies; this is their only fund-raising event of the year.

Many local businesses are having fund-raising raffles and events leading up to Communithon, and some events will be held over the same weekend, such as the United Way pancake breakfast on the Saturday morning.

Some businesses are also doing payroll deductions or group business collections as ways to make contrbuting to the United Way easier for their employees, said Ponto.

One annual event, the fire truck pull, is a late cancellation, due to training commitments by the fire department.

One final meeting for organizers will be held tonight, and set-up at the Legion Hall's upstairs auditorium will begin a week from today.