The Carlyle and District Lions Club Annual Supper Auction and Raffle has just completed its 25th year, raising a significant amount of money for local causes. Over the last quarter-century it’s been taking place on an annual basis, the Club has raised close to $500,000.
“People realize what this is and they know where the funds are going. It’s all going to the community,” said Wayne Wilson, a Lions Club member and chair of the event. “That’s what people like about it.”
Wilson said funds raised from the March 3 event go to various places in Caryle and the surrounding area. These include: the Rusty Relic Museum, the Carlyle Public Library, the local skating rink, the Lions Park Campground and Carlyle High School. Wilson added that donations have also gone to the Manor Recreation Committee to support upgrades to the Manor Community Rink.
“We donate to STARS and the Lions dog guides program. We actually donated to 19 different groups last year,” said Wilson. “After the supper, people send in an application looking for funding and we decide from there, where it’s going to go.”
Wilson said this year’s event at the Carlyle Memorial Hall was a little slower than previous years, but that the amount raised and the rate of attendance did not diminish significantly from last year.
“With normal years, we raise around $35,000,” said Wilson. “This year it was down around $32,000. It’s not small dollars.”
Wilson said that 100 per cent of the funds raised from each event go towards community initiatives, and people who attend come from all over the area.
“We have people come down from Manor. Some come down from Kenosee Lake,” said Wilson. “This year, we sold 203 tickets for the evening.”
Doors opened for the event at 5:00 p.m., with supper starting after guests were given time to enter their names at the four raffle tables and on the silent auction items. After guests were given a chance to take another look at the items on the raffle tables, Ward Cutler, a world-class champion auctioneer, originally from Carlyle, visited from Virden, Man., to host the live auction portion of the evening.
One unique feature of the event this year was the introduction of a new form of auction, in the balloon auction. Ten balloons were arranged on a board, and each balloon was auctioned off to guests. When all 10 were sold, guests were instructed the pop their balloons.
“Inside each of the balloons was a piece of paper. It either said, ‘Thanks for participating,’ or ‘Congratulations,’ ” said Wilson. “The person with the ‘congratulations’ had the choice of winning a stainless steel barbecue, an ice-fishing package of a weed eater package. That was our new thing this year. It was totally unique for us.”
When the winner chose the barbecue, the other two prizers were put up for live auction. When all was said and done, the event was over by 10:30 p.m.
“There’s not a lot of time to meander around, once we get started. Guests do most of the looking around before we have supper,” said Wilson. “It’s on a Thursday night, so people have to go work the next morning. They come in, have a look, find whatever they want to drop their chips in the pails and go from there.”
