The Riverdale Share Christmas Concert at the Danforth Music Hall Dec. 9 is all but sold out and organizers are already musing about adding a second concert for next year.

Longtime organizer Susan Baker is hoping this year’s concert – with a cast of dozens led by prominent local musicians such as Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies and Murray McLauchlan – can raise $50,000 to be distributed among worthy local charities.

Last year, $40,000 was raised.

Although the tickets are officially sold out, Baker did say that a few last-minute seats might become available at the door.

While the Riverdale concert has been helping local charities for 16 years, the family-friendly ticket prices, which have remained at $10, have also ensured that local families can afford to attend the concert.

The reason that the concert can raise so much money, explained Baker, is due to the tremendous support of the local business community which, through generous sponsorship, actually covers the entire cost of staging the concert. That means that the entire admission revenue can be donated to charity.

Also, with the ticket price being a bargain – as evidenced last year by having Page and Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy on the same bill – envelopes are also sent around in which audience members can volunteer an additional amount if they are able.

“That’s a pretty key piece of our fundraising,” reiterated Baker, adding that it accounted for about $5,000 last year.

Additional money is raised for charity through a raffle.

This year’s quickest ever sell-out will likely leave some disappointed local residents, but that’s definitely the trend in recent years. Last year’s event also sold out on the day of the concert, Baker said.

That has put organizers in a uniquely different position. 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, many of them regulars.

“We started getting the sad calls (last) Friday,” Baker said. “Parents of kids in the choir are saddest, of course.”

“One of the very sad calls was one of the girls who works at My Party (on the Danforth), and they’re ticket sellers. Her and her sisters have been coming to Riverdale Share Christmas their whole lives and they didn’t buy their tickets. They usually just buy them the day of, so they didn’t get tickets.”

That’s left organizers with an interesting option. Should they add a second concert next year? Perhaps with a more kid-themed concert in the afternoon and a family version in the evening in which they could charge a little more?

“If we get the sponsorship that we need we’re happy to consider it,” said Baker.