The Glittering Gala, held Oct. 18 at the Peter Lougheed Community Centre, turned out to be a great success.
“It was fantastic; a wonderful evening,” said Dariel Sroka, who co-chaired the event with Karen Boyes.
Close to 200 people, attired appropriately in lovely dresses and formal suits, attended the event and the live and silent auction brought in much needed dollars to go towards the new Liberty Hall.
Sroka said the final numbers have yet to be determined.
“We don’t have a final total and there are a number of bills to be paid yet,” she said.
As well as the auctions, the evening’s entertainment included the Tracey Millar band, which proved to be a great hit, and the music brought a good crowd out on the dance floor.
The catered meal by Bob Ronnie’s catering was as delicious as promised.
Trish Matthews was the successful bidder for a setting of eight at her own special table. At the end of the evening, Matthews was able to take home all the pieces of silverware and flatware included in the eight-piece setting and the centerpiece.
A signed Edmonton Oilers jersey brought in $425 and a signed baseball from Toronto Blue Jays and other baseball items collected $525.
Sharon Bergheim from Bluffton won the raffle draw for an Arctic Cat 500 quad, a propane barbecue was won by James Cowan from Ponoka, and John Hubbard from Red Deer took home the mini Apple iPad.
The Glittering Gala was the first major fundraiser for the new hall which is now at the lock up stage, but plumbing and electrical work is not completed.
The original Liberty Hall was built in 1921 as a temporary structure.
Now, almost a century later, the hall remains a busy place, continuing to house many activities, including the ever popular Springdale Players annual dinner theatre.
But, even though the dinner theatre is alive and well and other activities including reunions, picnics, dinners and exercise classes are held at the hall, the facility is tired and old. The roof leaks badly, the water and sewer pipes freeze every winter, the kitchen is not up to commercial qualifications and operational costs continue to rise.
The hall board has been diligently saving for many years to build a new facility and were most pleased that Ponoka County contributed $140,000 in matching funds for their project.
The new hall is on the same site as the original one and is approximately the same size.
The old hall will remain operational until the new facility is completely functional.
Sroka said practices have already begun for next February’s dinner theatres, however, she is not ready to divulge the name of the play.
“Let’s keep it a mystery for now,” she said.