A battle of the bands event seemed like the perfect kickoff event for Megan Sheridan’s new nonprofit, Pull Together.

Sheridan was brainstorming with Arielle Young, a musician who helps Dace Anderson run Dace’s Rock ‘n’ More that has locations in Maple Valley and Redmond.

“I love what they do (at Rock ‘n’ More),” Sheridan said. “The bottom line is the goal of the battle of the bands is to help with tuition assistance to give kids access to lessons.”

Initially the idea was to do a traditional battle with a bunch of youth bands competing for prizes. It made sense to work with Young and Anderson.

“What business do we have in town that we could partner with, do something fun,” Sheridan said. “It just made sense knowing the role they play here and the role they want to play.”

Sheridan, who lives in Maple Valley, started Pull Together in an effort to bring all the resources in the city to bear to help create the kind of community she believes residents want to live in. She thought a battle of the bands would be a great place to start as she pursuits her nonprofit tax exemption status and partnering with Rock ‘n’ More could bolster that effort further.

“With all the hoops to go through to become a nonprofit they can become my fiscal sponsor so they help me do what I want to do as I wait for my (nonprofit) designation and help them benefit financially,” Sheridan said. “The second piece of besides being able to help both of us is the whole point of battle of the bands is to raise money for youth programs community wide.”

As the two women talked about this event, they pulled Anderson into the conversation and he proceeded to flip it on its head.

“I started thinking about how it would work,” Anderson said. “A regular battle of the bands is tough, especially when you’re trying to raise money. I don’t know how I had this idea to flip it on its head, but, we have enough adult bands in the area so I had this vision. And, they never get a chance to do this.”

Thus, three adult bands will be judged by Heat, a group of 12- and 13-year-old boys who have played music together for some time.

“Anytime you have Heat involved in anything is a good idea because they bring a lot of energy to what they do,” Anderson said. “I had this idea, a lot of them are business leaders in Maple Valley, and they’re going to be doing something that this group of 13 year old kids are pros at so the kids are going to be able to look up and say ‘This is good, this is not so good, work on this.’”

Slated to perform for judging by the members of Heat are The Angry Beavers, the Rotary Gearheads and 30 Years After.

And because there’s a silent auction involved, Sheridan said, it made sense to her, Young and Anderson to bring in an audience which has the disposable income to spend on those items.

The battle of the bands is set to start at 6 p.m., Saturday,  Nov. 23, at Tahoma Middle School. An after hours party will start after the battle concludes at 9 p.m. This is where the silent auction will happen, Young and Anderson will perform, all at DaVine in Maple Valley. Sheridan explained the $25 ticket price for the event will be converted to a credit toward the silent auction.

Sheridan said she and Young are more excited about this new concept than the original battle idea they came up with in September when they first talked.

But Sheridan is particularly excited about what it could do for Rock ‘n’ More, perhaps more so than it being a starting point event for Pull Together.

“The big thing for me is because Pull Together is to help families, to provide a community where families can thrive,” Sheridan said. “I want them to grow because of what they can offer to this community and what they do offer is amazing. Support the kids, support our community, that’s what it is all about.”

Anderson said that while this may be a kickoff for Pull Together, it could be the beginning of so much more.

“There was a pretty big economic downturn and everything’s starting to turn around,” Anderson said. “And it seems like this is a good time in the history of our world to pull our community together and make it the way we want it to be without making any excuses. This could be the turning point of the future of Maple Valley.”