RMEF Banquet

Last weekend we had the Banquet for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Can I just say what a relief it was to have it done? Seriously, so glad. But once again, the banquet was a great success. Not for anything that I have done, but because of the great volunteers that worked so hard to get everything together.

We always start getting set up early in the morning and we don't get home until nearly midnight or later. However, this year I think I was home by about 11:30, which might be a record. The doors open at 6:00, but we have never waited that long. I am at the front table greeting attendees, passing out meal deal packages, and collecting money. This job leaves me "on" all night I am busy from the second people arrive until the last person checks out and the deposit is made. Who am I kidding, every committee member at the banquet is busy all night, answering questions, helping with games, watching for bids, or doing whatever is needed. Regardless, I don't think I would change my spot for anything. I have a program put together in Excel that works for me and I think I finally have it down to a routine on how to check people in and out. Of course I could never do it alone, I always have Chris B and BreeAnn at the table to keep things running smoothly and prevent me from blowing a blood vessel or something worse. Enough about me.

The banquet was fantastic! Everything seemed to run smooth, the games all sold out and both the live and silent auctions seemed popular. The picture I have included at the top of the post was about 90 minutes into the night. Everyone had their balloons at their tables, a majority of the attendees had their food and only a limited number were in line waiting to be fed.

According to my best guess, we had about 260+ attendees. Which is up just a bit from last year. I hope that we had 260+ attendees going home happy. But more important, we had a great event that raised funds for Elk Conservation efforts. To quote my friend and Co-Chair "I do this because I like Elk." Same here, I do this because I like elk and want to be able to still see them when I am old.