Merv Kirker was one of several guests “captured” during the Run, Ride, Rock the Ranch, helping raise an additional $4,000 for the Westside Legacy Trail. Photo by Nikki Fredrikson
We were happy to raise $50,000 dollars, said Greenways events co-ordinator Kim Turgeon. It was a huge success. It was contributed to by a little more than 300 people who came out in the afternoon and another 300 people who came out for the evening pig roast and dance.
The event was both a fundraiser and a celebration of all the volunteers and fundraising raised for the Westside Legacy Trail project so far. To date, the total raised for the trail is $1.6 million towards the $5 million project budget.
We really wanted to celebrate. The Eileen Madson kids did such a great job with the Spell-a-Thon that raised over $8,000 and we also wanted people to come up and see the Shaunessy Ranch. The Shaunessys are a huge part of the project and they (owners Bob and Barb Shaunessy) just wanted to open it up and let people come and really celebrate what we are doing, said Ms. Turgeon.
The event started off with the family activities during the day including yard Yahtzee, potato sack races and cow patty catapult. The K2 Ranch staff also gave demonstrations in blacksmithing, allowing kids and adults to try their hand. A bike as well as hike tour was also available for the public to participate in during the afternoon events.
The evening started with a pig roast dinner, but was interrupted by the Columbia Valley RCMP when they arrested four attendees for the jail and bail fundraiser portion of the night. The four arrested had to fundraise their bail money in order to be set free, ultimately raising another $4,000 for the trail.
The jail and bail was great. Another new initiative was, we called it, the Westside Legacy Track Race. We used generators and powered a slot car race track with stationary bicycles. So we had four competitors at a time and they would jump on the bikes and compete and the winner move on to the final. People could buy raffle tickets for the person they thought might win and than we auctioned them off to the highest bidder.
The easiest way to explain it was it was a Calcutta-style race track event with a live auction so once people saw the riders compete, then they could buy them, said Ms. Turgeon.
The Westside Legacy Track Race raised $2,000 and Ms. Turgeon said they will make some refinements so other clubs can borrow the track for future fundraisers. The Run, Ride, Rock the Ranch event finished off with a silent auction and dance, bringing the total raised to $50,000.
Watch out for the next few Westside Legacy Trail fundraisers. Proceeds from the Lake Windermere Lions Invermere Ballfest July 22nd to July 24th will go towards the project, as will proceeds from the new five-kilometre event at this years Loop the Lake on August 6th.
The next fundraiser the Columbia Valley Greenways Trail Alliance will be hosting is a golf tournament and dinner later in the summer (originally scheduled for July 11th) at Eagle Ranch Resort. Furthermore, Greenways and the District of Invermere plan to work together to raise funds for the trail and the new multi-use centre.Visit www.ourtrail.org for more information.
