Jorgenson ballroom packed for Tri-County fundraiser
By Cole Boehler
One of the nicest by-products of covering local tavern association dinners spread across the state is the opportunity afforded to observe differing conditions—weather, climate, topography, economy, flora and fauna—from region-to-region.
What struck me most profoundly as I traveled up I-15 from Butte to Helena July 14 for the Tri-County Tavern Association's annual charity dinner at Jorgenson's Inn was the awful spread and devastation of the pine beetle.
This scourge is finally getting some long overdue attention. Yet the epidemic has been picking up steam for most of the last decade. Grey-colored trees in the forest stands mean a tree that has been dead awhile; the reddish ones have died recently.
Some tree stands in southwest Montana appear to be 50 percent grey, 25 percent red and 25 percent green. The stretch between Helena and Butte has many grey trees but what is so startlingly apparent is the vast number that have just gone rust colored.
The beetle plague means that at some point in the future we will be facing wildfires of previously unknown proportions, which man will be able to do nothing about, except let what remains of the forest, along with the dead-tree fuel accumulations, go into the atmosphere as smoke, ash and carbon dioxide. The ash- and silt-laden runoff afterward will have dire effects on the watershed for years.
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Left to right, Orville Johnson, Steve Morris and Dennis White make the selections for the head table calcutta.
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The situation is scary and sad and provokes some anger that the standing-dead trees cannot at least be salvaged, but are instead being left to burn or, best case, fall and rot.
After that grim assessment (and brief editorial), it was indeed time to get to the Tri-County gala and work on some major mood improvement.
... which wasn't that hard to do, considering a robust crowd of nearly 150 folks had gathered under the tent with access to two hosted outdoor bars which featured the beer, wine or cocktail of your choice from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Earlier, the day had been overcast, cool and blustery. As the shindig got underway, the sun was out, the sky had cleared and temperatures were warming, just as were the Tri-County guests.
The conversation was lively and convivial, some related to business but most related to which Montana summer pastime had been most recently enjoyed. Stories were swapped regarding fishing success, motorcycle tours, boating conditions on area lakes and just past, or pending, vacations.
Dennis "The Mouth" White, Montana Tavern Association president and owner of Helena's Dapper D's, was toting the wireless microphone and providing the patter that lent to keeping the mood light while building anticipation for later proceedings.
White is a walking encyclopedia of area tavern history, current information and other idle observations.
"I see Joe just bought a wad of raffle tickets," White might babble. "Yep, that's Joe Jones of Joe's Bar, over on the south end of Central Street, right next to the Side Track Tap. Joe's is the former Magoo's Saloon. Joe serves up a heckuva a steak deal on Wednesday nights. Fun place, great customer service, blah, blah..."
Every once in awhile, White would stumble when he got some tiny detail wrong or couldn't dredge up some obscure bit of information. Then he complained of his "mad cow disease" acting up.
Maybe instead of the moniker "Old Den," White should adopt a more appropriate nickname. May we suggest "DJ"? One could certainly imagine White seated in front of a radio station console, spinning tunes and spinning yarns all night at a non-stop clip.
It wasn't long before White was exhorting the crowd to head to the Jorgenson's banquet room across the parking lot to claim their seats, refresh their drinks, partake of the appetizers, then get ready for a feast, as well as drawings for prizes large and small.
The banquet room was full and table's were well adorned with "mini" bottles of a wide variety of spirits, some of which were sampled during the proceedings, others of which disappeared into purses and pockets. Odem Spirits Marketing provided the minis while Sandy Mac, Mountain Country and Gusto Distributing helped with the beer.
White, along with able help from Steve Morris of Jorgenson's and Orville Johnson of the Yacht Basin, began the process of verifying dinner ticket holders for the main "calcutta" raffle while intermittently White gave away $50 cash prizes (one for $500) and merchandise.
All the while guests were enjoying beverages as salads were served, followed by the main course. There were relish trays, home baked bread sticks and a chilled tossed ranch house salad with a full complement of dressings.
Hot rolls and butter were brought along with big plates of slow-cooked prime rib and au jus, country corn on the cob, "Laura's famous beans" and baked potato. Coffee and iced tea were available to enhance the fresh strawberry shortcake dessert. Yum!
White, Morris and Johnson were too busy to eat (but not too busy to drink) as they pulled over 100 numbered balls from the bingo tumbler, finally reducing the qualifiers by eliminations to a final 10 who would take a seat at the head table and have a chance at $4,800 in cash to be given away. The lucky 11th seat was drawn from a separate raffle.
All the drawing procedures were handled with Teutonic efficiency and machine gun-like rapidity.
The first ticket holder drawn was the Southwest (Madison/Beaverhead) Tavern Association, followed by Bob Gilbert of Nickels Gaming, Rudd & Co. CPA, The Edge, Montana Lil's (Helena), Montana Glass, Timber Bar, Western States Insurance, Dapper D's and Chubby's. Finally, Sandy Mac's was drawn for the 11th seat.
About halfway through the seat selections, White pulled Kelli Simac's ticket and handed her the $500 cash raffle prize. We don't know how he "rigged" it, but White's Dapper D's won a nice digital camera and printer outfit provided by Town Pumps (of course, we kid, as these proceedings must be scrupulously fair and honest).
The eliminations began with Chubby's having the honor of being the first to depart the head table, taking $200 cash and a bottle of champagne with them. Chubby's was soon followed by Montana Glass, Rudd & Co. CPA, Western States Insurance, The Edge, Timber Bar (much to the shock of Shawn Fuller, who won $2,500 at the Yellowstone dinner in May), Nickel's Gaming and the Southwest TA, leaving the three finalists, Sandy Mac's, Dapper's and Montana Lil's.
First of those to go down, and claiming a $400 cash prize at the same time, was ... Sandy Mac's. The final two, vying for $800 or $2,000, declined to pool the prize and split it. So (drum roll) ...
When the last ball was drawn, Dappers was eliminated but grabbed the $800 while the crew from Montana Lil's jumped up and down and whooped and hollered while being handed $2,000! Congrats to all the winners.
In fact, everyone who attended was a winner: good company, good beverages, good food, a good time, some great prizes...and all for a good cause.
The formalities concluded, amazingly, at 9:15 p.m., which left plenty of evening for folks to mingle in the Jorgenson's banquet room while visiting the bar once more, or to get out and renew acquaintances with other good MTA members scattered across the Capital City.
This reporter was back in his own bed by 11 p.m., looking forward to the next local association dinner, and especially the one the Tri-County gang will surely conduct again next year.