2009 marks the 40th Anniversary of our Chapter and the 50th Anniversary of Trout Unlimited. To celebrate this milestone, our Chapter held a fundraising banquet on Sunday, April 19th, from 4-9pm at the historic Hotel Coolidge in downtown White River Junction, Vermont. Originally anticipating 80 attendees, the event was filled to capacity and completely sold out at 120. The cozy ambience of the historic setting, hotelier David Briggs’ professional and courteous Coolidge staff, and delicious comfort food served home-style, were the perfect backdrop for our first large social gathering in a decade. The night only improved under the spell of well known public media personality and raconteur, Willem Lange, who graciously donated his time to the cause and delivered a masterpiece of self-deprecation that had the crowd in stitches.
Prior to dinner, guests from around New England had a chance to mingle, enjoy a cocktail, and catch up–the smiles and laughter growing as fast as the size of the fish. The Banquet Committee and some other dedicated Chapter members worked diligently to see that the banquet ran smoothly, and to provide attendees with a superb selection of door, raffle, and auction items for guests to ogle and take home after a little luck and friendly competition. Among the rods, reels, artwork, gift certificates, clothing, etc., there was an 8-foot table filled almost exclusively with donated fly boxes filled with flies tied (mostly) by chapter members! Grace Moore, daughter of Chapter Prez, Chris Moore, worked from 11am to 9pm to help set up and then draw the winning raffle tickets before handing over duties to our excellent and daring live auctioneer and former Chapter President, Brad Yoder, who awarded SEVEN guided fishing trips and TWO rod/reel/line combos to winning bidders. The Special Raffle Northern Stage Season Pass and Grand Raffle Dave Kenney Bamboo Fly Rod (ticket #001 was the winner) were awarded following the live auction and signaled the end of a magnificent evening.
By all accounts, everyone in attendance had a splendid time–in addition to numerous comments received and overheard, Chapter Prez Chris Moore received not less than 6 phone calls from banquet goers who expressed their enjoyment and support for a repeat performance. It was indeed a wonderful opportunity for members and their guests to make new connections and enhance existing ones, win some fabulous items, and show moral and financial support for the Chapter volunteers and their shared mission. The results of the Banquet are astonishing: in addition to selling out, gross receipts totaled over $11,000 and after all the costs are calculated, the expected net for the Chapter will be approximately $8,500. Given the current economy, these numbers are truly fantastic.
The Chapter wishes to express its deep and sincere thanks to Willem Lange, Brad Yoder, David Briggs and staff, Hanover Outdoors, the Banquet Committee and other Chapter Volunteers, and to the many, many donors without whom the banquet could not have been organized. But it takes two to tango as the saying goes, so we we would also like to thank all of the attendees at this year’s Banquet for coming out and being the best partners the Chapter could hope for. Thank you!
And, finally, as noted in the banquet program, we need to thank the hundreds of VOLUNTEER Chapter Members who, over the last 40 years, have recognized, and taken action to protect, the inherent value—recreational, educational, aesthetic, economic, and ecological—of clean running water and the cold water fisheries that depend on them. You have set the bar high, and inspired the current membership to carry the mission forward for the next 40 years!
See below a partial list of items and door prizes generously donated by members of YOUR community who support our cause. We encourage you to support theirs.
Grand Prize Raffle: Dave Kenney Bamboo Fly Rod
Special Raffle: Northern Stage opening week Season Pass.
Blitz Raffle: TomTom 730 GPS unit from Tele Atlas.
Live Auction:
Orvis Superfine rod/reel/line combo
LL Bean rod/reel/line combo
Vtrout Outfitters: Guided Trip in the Northeast Kingdom
Meccawe Trout Club Guided Fishing for 3 at the Club
TNT Guides: Guided Trip on the Androscoggin
Doug Lyons: Guided Trip on the Battenkill
Blue Ridge Outfitter: Guided Trip in Central Vermont
Green Mountain Troutfitters: Guided Trip on the Lamoile and Winooski
FOR WOMEN ONLY: Otter Creek Anglers Guided Trip in Central Vermont. From the winning bid of $400 the Chapter will be donating a 50% match, or $200, to our partner, Casting For Recovery.
Door Prizes, Silent Auctions and Bucket Raffles:
Alpina
Artifactory
AVA Gallery
Bagely’s Firewood
Billings Farm
Blue Ridge Outfitter
Boogle Bugs
Cabela’s
Chris Moore & Anna Adachi-Mejia
CO-OP Food Store
Craig Westling
Curt Peterson
Curves of Lebanon
Dartmouth Hopkins Center
Darn Tough
Dave Kenney
Doug Lyons
Elements Salon
Firestones
Green Mountain Troutfitters
Hanover Outdoors
Hartford Propane
Hartland Granola Company
Henderson’s Ski and Snowboard
Hotel Coolidge-David Briggs
Hubert’s Family Outfitters
Ibex
Jeff Plant
Kedron Valley Inn
King Arthur Flour
LL Bean
Locust Creek Outfitters
Marty Banak
Matt Stedina
Meccawe Trout Club & Loye Miller
Montshire Museum
Morell Fly Boxes
Meunier’s Towing Auto Sales & Service
Northern Stage
Norwich Inn
Opechee Trading Post
Otter Creek Anglers
Paradise Sport Shop
Parker House Inn
Patagonia
Pinnacle Engraving
Quechee Inn at Marshland Farms
Ray Obar
Redington
Rick Hamel
River Valley Club
River Excitement
Ron Rhodes
Ronin
Seth Dunn
Simon Pearce
South Woodstock Country Store
Steve Cole
Stone River Outfitters
Suzie Zane
Systems Plus Computers
Tami’s Head Lines
Tate Daly
Tele Atlas
The Car Store
The Orvis Company
Thistle Hill Publications
Three Tomatoes
TNT Guides
Tom Ames
Trout Unlimited National
Umpleby’s Café
University Press of New England
Upper Valley Aquatic Center
Upper Valley Lanes & Games
Vail Haak
Vermont Fly Box Company
VINS
VTrout Outfitters
Windsor Wines & Spirits
Thank you to any contributors not named here!
