You’d be hard pressed to find a better entertainment bargain then the $10 admission price to last Sunday’s sold-out 16th annual Riverdale Share Christmas Concert at the Danforth Music Hall.

After all, where else are you going to get Steve Page of the Barenaked Ladies sharing the spotlight with the Frankland School Choir who sang with him on Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah (which he covers on BNL’s Barenaked for the Holidays CD)?

Or Canadian icon Murray McLauchlan (see photo above) dedicating one of his early signature songs On the Boulevard to Christmas shoppers and then backing up Lorraine Segato of Parachute Club fame?

Residents from Riverdale and beyond obviously agree it’s a bargain as the event, which has now become an institution, as it boasted its earliest ever sell-out date.

That put organizers in a uniquely different position, said longtime organizer Susan Baker. For most of the concert’s history, she said, organizers were used to sweating out the last week, hoping the tickets sold “which they always did, of course.”

Now, the stress, she said, is having to turn people away.

The Riverdale and area business community, led by lead sponsor The Big Carrot, are also very much on board as their overwhelming support, through sponsorship, again covered every last cent to run the show so that all the money turned over by the audience – whether through admission, or the elves’ envelopes in the program or the raffle or the friendship program – is able to be handed over to charity.

This year, Baker said she is hoping the final tally will hit a record $50,000, a sizeable increase from the $40,000 collected last year.

Charities that were helped last year included the South Riverdale Child-Parent Centre, Blake Boultbee Youth Outreach Service, Dundas School Art Therapy, Ralph Thornton Community Centre and, of course, local food banks courtesy of the non-perishable food donations the audience was encouraged to bring.

With such tremendous support from Riverdale residents, musicians and businesses, Baker said the organizing committee will toss around some ideas about growing the event.

Obviously you couldn’t fit even one more person into the Danforth Music Hall, but perhaps next year, she said a second show could be added. Perhaps a more family-themed show in the afternoon and an adult-themed show for the evening could be considered.

Aside from the wonderful work the organizers, volunteers, musicians and sponsoring businesses do to raise funds for charity, the show itself is absolutely first rate.

Even the Grinch (who, incidentally, did show up at the concert, wonderfully played by 17-year-old Wexford high school student Dewshane Williams) couldn’t help but leave this show feeling good about the holiday season and about community.

It’s a show where a couple of kids with electric guitars (seven-year-old Flynn Tanner and 11-year-old Jack Rochon) with a rockin’ rendition of Rudolph can steal the spotlight from the stars, all the while the top-notch house band, relegated to supporting roles for this one, couldn’t contain their smiles.

Speaking of the house band, they were awesome, led as usual by Riverdale musicians Tom Leighton (as half of Haines and Leighton he’s released three CDs) and Steve Briggs (leader of Bebop Cowboys).

Some backing band members like drummer Bruce Moffatt (who has played with Prairie Oyster, Sass Jordan, Corey Hart and Red Ryder, among others) has never missed a year and bass player Ross Boswell (who has performed at Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax jazz festivals and recorded for CBC Maritimes) has only one miss.

The band’s well-known pedigree in roots/jazz is just so appropriate for the holiday tunes, and they were so good backing the likes of Prairie Oyster lead singer Russell deCarle, Quartette member Cindy Church and even the local For the Love of It dance troupe. Especially while the dance troupe was performing, you had to remind yourself that the band was live – and not a recording.

Also especially heartwarming was the inclusiveness of the program, which also included:

• Riverdale actress Theresa Tova doing Let in Snow in Yiddish;
• Toronto’s premier lion dance team (Northern Legs Southern Fists);
• The audience-pleasing duo of Cameroon native and new Toronto resident, percussionist N’Jacko Backo and his wife Valerie Woloshyn;
• And closing out with Jian Ghomeshi, who had a funny line about being a Muslim growing up in a Jewish neighbourhood and celebrating Christmas. Toronto is one of the few communities in the world where this is possible.

Appropriately, he closed the show with a heartfelt rendition of John Lennon’s Happy Xmas - War is Over, joined by the entire cast.

Visit www.riverdaleshare.com for details.