Burton Cummings can easily fill a football stadium with fans, but selling out a tiny Lac du Bonnet arena may rank as one of his most memorable gigs.

Some 1,200 people crammed the arena on Sunday night to hear Cummings and several other members of The Guess Who put on a concert to raise money for Raquel Godin.

Godin is a former Lac du Bonnet resident who lost both her legs to meningitis in April.

"It was absolutely phenomenal," Guess Who guitarist Donnie McDougall said yesterday. "We were doing the songs we grew up with. I haven't seen Burton have that much fun in years."

Godin, a 26-year-old child-care worker, is now recovering at her Winnipeg home. Her plight tugged on the heart-strings of her former community of Lac du Bonnet, about 120 km northeast of WInnipeg. They hit on the idea of a concert to raise money to help Godin with her recovery.

'Just snowballed'

"Once the idea got going, it just snowballed. We sold 900 tickets in the first week," concert organizer Curtis Dancyt said.

The concert featured regular Guess Who members Cummings, McDougall and bassist Bill Wallace. Joining them were friends drummer Vance Masters, guitarist James Creasey and keyboardist Colin Wiebe.

The band played more than two hours of rock 'n' roll hits.

Also on the bill were Winnipeg's Pushing Daisies and Vancouver band Edgar.

The show's MC was Winnipeg-based deejay and entertainer Gary MacLean, who made the trip in spite of his own battle with throat cancer.

"For him to make the effort was very, very special," McDougall said.

Dancyt expects the concert raised nearly $40,000.

Godin's father, Allan Bruchanski, was overwhelmed by the town's support.

"We never thought it would turn out like this. We thank all the people who contributed," Bruchanski said.