Almost 300 turn out for Butte TA Dinner
Pub Date: 11/1/2008
By Paul F. Vang
A capacity crowd of 280 people attended the 2008 annual fundraising dinner of the Butte-Silver Bow Tavern Association October 13.
The annual dinner, held at Butte s War Bonnet Hotel, featured a buffet dinner with prime rib and roast pork, along with a long table of salads, appetizers, desserts, pasta, potatoes and other trimmings to keep a hungry crowd happy.
As 2008 is an election year (in case you hadn t noticed), public officials and candidates were well represented among attendees, including Representatives George Groesbeck, Jon Sesso, and Jim Keane (currently a candidate for State Senate), Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Paul Babb, and District Judge Brad Newman.
Monica Lindeen, Democratic candidate for State Auditor, was the lone candidate for statewide office in attendance.
Other candidates for local office were also in attendance.
Association Secretary Bobbi Collins of Lucky Lil s Casino in Butte chaired the dinner committee and event.
The association honored Lyle Nalivka, longtime association member and operator of the Acoma bar and restaurant (which closed earlier this year) as the association s Honorary Member of the Year. Long time Acoma employees, Jim Sheehan, Dan Sheehan and DeeDee Thurmond spoke in fond tribute of their former employer.
The fundraising part of the event included various raffles, a silent auction and a live auction, conducted by a father/son team of auctioneers from Whitehall, Darrell and Brady Cogdill. It was a good night for the Cogdills. In addition to conducting a successful auction, Darrell Cogdill won a $500 raffle prize.
The main raffle event of the evening was a "calcutta raffle" in which attendees drew for 10 seats at the head table, in which all would win at least $200, with a grand prize of $2,500. Another raffle was held for the chance to have the eleventh seat at the table, which was won by Chick s Bar in Alder.
Local supporting businesses won most of the seats at the table, and at the end, John Hayes, executive director of the Cascade County Tavern Association, won $500, Tucker Transportation of Butte won a $900 prize and Montana Broom and Brush of Butte won the grand prize of $2,500.
One raffle offered a prize of a choice between a trip to Las Vegas or a $1,000 shopping spree in Butte. This raffle was won by Kelley Howery.
Preliminary estimates are that the live auction brought in $5,000, the silent auction brought in $2,400, and the various raffles collected $4,300. Much of this, of course, was paid back to lucky prizewinners.
For Bobbi Collins, this was the 10th year in which she chaired the annual dinner, which supports a long list of local charities. It s a lot of work, she said, an enormous amount of work. But I know what s going on and what it takes to put on a successful event. I also have a great committee that makes it all possible.
Butte-Silver Bow Tavern Association officers are: president Billy Fisher of The Depot, vice president Michelle Thiesen of the Double Eagle Casino, secretary Bobbi Collins of Lucky Lil s Casino, treasurer John Perino of the Pair-a-Dice bar, and sergeant at arms, Brad Kilgore, of Five Mile Bar.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, November, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.