SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) -- It promises to be a fun filled night of music and hope, while raising money for a good cause. This Thursday night the Denny Sanford Premier Center will host the 8th annual 'Big Stars and Pink Guitars.' It's a fundraiser for breast cancer research and patients that wa s started by Kory Van Sickle of Kory and the Fireflies. And as you're about to see, they'll be auctioning off pink guitars signed by some of the biggest names in music. Kory and the Fireflies are arguably one of the region's most popular bands. Notice of high-risk offender’s release to Huron But their founder, Kory Van Sickle has found a way to illuminate another way to turn music into money by starting and event called 'Big Stars and Pink Guitars' that'll take place this Thursday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. "I thought if we take a ribbon shaped guitar and start having all these artists who play in this beautiful building sign them we can do something with that," Van Sickle said. And they have. For the first few years the event was held in smaller venues, but 'Big Stars and Pink Guitars' has become a wildly popular fundraiser for the Sanford Health Foundation. "Now here we are transitioning to the Denny Sanford Premier Center because we've grown so significantly and we have a lot of people who are onboard we are auctioning off a significant number of guitars every single year," Erin Sanderson of the Sanford Health Foundation said. This year, they are auctioning off 20 pink guitars all signed by music icons. "I think one thing to really notice is 100% of every dollar given or any gift to the Sanford Health Foundation stays local, this event specifically supporting the Edith Sanford Breast Center," Sanderson said. It supports the cancer patients in various ways. "Making sure that people are supporting them through wigs, head coverings, nurse navigation programs, state of the art equipment anything we can do to wrap our arms around these women, we are here working for you through community events like this," Sanderson said. Van Sickle remembers Jason Aldean signing one of the guitars when he peformed at the Premier Center. But Van Sickle says Aldean got up on stage in Michigan during one of his concerts and played the pink guitar. "A couple of weeks after that it was put on eBay and sold for $15 plus thousand and crazy enough found our dear friend, he's a dear friend now, but I didn't know him at the time Brian Kern from Madison, South Dakota had bought that, of all the people in the world on the internet, he bought that guitar and he has a killer collection now," Van Sickle said. "Various artists, from Tim McGraw, which was the very first one, to Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs He also got the Taylor Swift one last year. Don: What did you give for that one? Brian: It was a lot… He doesn't even play guitar. "I have a grand piano in my house too, but I don't play piano, so kind of the same thing," Kern said. But why so many guitars? "That's an easy question to answer, my first wife passed away from cancer," Kern said. "She was 28 years old at the time so when Kory approached me I thought it was a great cause." A cause that's raised a lot of money. Last year they hit the $1 million dollar mark in one night bringing the total money raised since its inception to now $4.5 million dollars. But it wouldn't have been possible without the cooperation of the stars. "We find that a huge amount of the artists have been touched by breast cancer in some way, whether it's their mom or sister or daughter or a dear friend, whatever; a lot of women deal with it, and almost every artists who has come through here has signed guitars for us as well," Van Sickle said. Now some of those signed pink guitars hang in the Premier Center as subtle reminder of what can happen when music and money come together for a good cause. Van Sickle has always had a desire to help others and this is one way he can give back to people who have supported him and his band over the years. "This program is going to save literally thousands of women," Van Sickle said. Van Sickle says besides the 20 pink guitars, they'll also be auctioning off one that he says will be a big surprise.To learn more about the event and how to donate to the Sanford Health Foundation click here. ...read more read less