The Annual Banquet

As I have mentioned previously, I am a member of the Kilpatrick Flyfishers, a fly fishing club based out of Saskatoon, SK. One of the nice things about being in a club is the continued contact it allows members in the off-season. The big event for most clubs, and ours is no exception, is the Annual Banquet. Like most, this is our big fund raiser of the year. We always have a blast at the banquet, and this year was no exception. There are the usual draws, silent auction, and live auction to raise money to help the club continue operating, special entertainment ( usually some devilish contest ) and a couple of annual awards are given out.
The auctions are always a source of laughs, as our members can get pretty creative when trying to outbid one another,  although out-bidding yourself was a new one to me. Apparently, someone got a little too caught up in the excitement. It didn't help that the autioneer was yours truly. What I don't know about auctioneering would fill a library.
The entertainment this year was very simple - 3 members were chosen by random drawand had to put on several pieces of fly fishing apparel (some of which is in no way related to fishing of ANY sort). Of course, the "random drawing" was bogus, as we had 3 members who we felt deserved special attention, and the Real Contest was to remove each piece of apparel at a different table, while dancing to some "special" music. The winner was determined by applause. It goes without saying that the contest was hilarious, and the winner was very deserving. I will be posting some pictures for everyone's enjoyment. I only wish I had a video camera there.
I do want to mention our award winners.
The Rick Kalytuk Memorial Award for the Volunteer of the Year went to Donna Carlson-O'keefe. This lady has work tirelessly behind the scenes at many of our functions and is very deserving of this award.
It was a special treat to announce the next award. The Jerry Jackson Memorial Award for the Best Fish Story of 2010 went to 12 year old Mackenzie Alexson, who described catching her first fish on a fly rod, and her father's attempts to come to her aid (not that she needed th help). We had other entries which were quite good, but the whole idea of a young girl fly fishing fit so well with our club's value of getting future generations involved in fly fishing. The story was pretty good too.
It's events like the Annual Banquet that keep the members together during the long cold days of the off-season. Here's to many more of them.
Tight Lines