By Roger Porter
Tuesday, January 9, was a beautiful day for a drive and so I simply put the car on auto pilot and headed to Bozeman for the annual Gallatin Licensed Beverage Association Dinner.
Having just left Great Falls, the land of beaches and bathing beauties, I was a bit surprised to see about five inches of snow on the ground as I pulled up to the Best Western Gran Tree Inn, site of the evening's festivities.
Following Christmas and New Year's, this dinner is timed just right to start the blood circulating once more.
As is the norm with occasions of this sort the evening began with a cocktail hour held in the banquet room adjacent to the pool area. A good crowd gathered and they were treated to some sumptuous appetizers which included chicken tenders, barbecued meatballs and super shrimp complete with cocktail sauce.
Individuals worked the floor renewing old acquaintances and beginning new ones for the better part of an hour and one half with libations lubricating the conversation.
Then came the call for dinner and the guests adjourned to the a second banquet room where they were seated at tables for eight.
Rising to the occasion and surveying his kingdom, Gallatin LBA President Ralph Ferraro called the crowd to order and once more lent his considerable talents to his role as Master of Ceremonies.
Those who were famished didn't have to wait long as Ralph deftly began the verification of tickets and the staff began serving the evening' fare family style. Last year's dinner menu proved so popular it was repeated this year with minor variations.
It seems the focal point of the dinner was the serving of New Zealand green-shell mussels with clams in a galvanized bucket. The guests were also treated to Caesar salad, wild sockeye salmon filet with lemon butter caper drizzle, top sirloin thinly sliced with mushroom sauce accompanied by roasted baby red potatoes and green beans.
Compliments to Executive Chef Bill Pepping, Petra Gunther, Director of Sales and Catering and, last but not least, long time Gran Tree General Manager Carl Solvie.
Once finished with his verification of tickets Ferraro took a moment to thank association secretary Melanie Hathaway of JR' in Belgrade for her tireless work in putting the annual dinner together. It should be noted that he was assisted throughout the evening by his daughter Angela Frye.
Owing to his many years of experience conducting meetings, including a stint as President of the Montana Tavern Association, Ferraro moved the program right along including the introduction of the current MTA President Jupe Compton of Havre.
interspersed throughout the evening's formal program were drawings for cash and beautiful liquor baskets designed to hold the crowd in place with each guest sitting on the edge of their seats eagerly awaiting their name to be called.
One of the most popular events of this affair is the brown bag auction. This is where guests bid on seven plain brown grocery sacks laden with cool things such as gift certificates, get-away weekends and the like. The auctioneer for the evening was Dean Folkvold of Wheat Montana fame and he kept things moving and raised a goodly amount for the local organization. The lowest bid was still $600 and the highest was $1,100 for a NASCAR trip. From among the sack winners, a super sack winner was chosen and awarded at $1,000, courtesy of Lucky Lil' of Montana.
With the sack auction concluded, all eyes were on the head table at which would be seated the 10 lucky persons to be chosen from the regular ticket pool in addition to the lucky winner of the 11th seat drawing.
There is some confusion regarding the seating of winners at the head table and no wonder as it is done differently at different dinners. The most common at tavern dinners is the drawing of 10 balls from which one is selected to occupy the chair to be filled. It is a bit embarrassing when the first person called leaps up and walks toward the chair only to be told "so solly Charlie."
As Ralph moved the seating right along the crowd became a bit antsy. Finally all the seats were filled and the elimination round began. One by one those eliminated exited the head table, dejected but $250 richer.
Then there were three and the moment of truth was nigh. Third prize winner of $500 was Big Sky Brewing of Missoula, a grand bunch. The second prize winner of a cool $800 was Montana Lil' of Belgrade, and numero uno--the big winner of $2,000--was JCCS, aka Junkermier, Clark, Campanella & Stevens, one of the state's premium accounting firms (surely they'll know how to account for their windfall on their 2007 tax returns).
It was a grand evening. However like all good things, it came to an end. Some guests adjourned to the Gran Tree Lounge while others toured Bozeman after dark.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Feb., 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.