My gala celebration and fundraiser was held April 18th at the Missoula Fairgrounds, and wow what a great evening it was! The day started off with a lot of anxiousness, not to mention lack of sleep. We had stayed up the previous night finishing up the little details. My mom was probably the most anxious for my event. She had done so much to prepare for the night. In fact she would sometimes refer to it as planning a small wedding! As it edged closer to the start, I too got a little nervous. What if nobody came? What if we don't have enough food? These questions were soon answered as soon as the doors opened!
The party got underway immediately. There was roughly 160+ people attending. This included adults and children. The evening started off with opening ceremonies and the National Anthem sung by Tawnie Kerr, a freshman in my class. Paula and Mark from Eagle 93 were the Emcees for my event and they did a fabulous job. Caffe Firenze catered my event and the food was so delicious! The auctioneer for the night was Alan Meyers. My silent auction was a very widespread selection. Ranging from a Jackelope Mounted Head :), to beautiful hand paintings. My live auction consisted of 13 items. One being a trip to Holland Lake Lodge and another being two Australian Shepard Puppies. With the support of everyone who showed up all of my items went really well. I want to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who attended and supported me. The whole event consisted of lots of fun, but there was one part of the evening that was a BLAST! 
My parents and I had decided early on that if enough kids showed up we would have a Calcutta and auction off the kids and have a kiddie rodeo. Well there were more kids then we had expected, so it was a perfect opportunity. We had 21 kids in the rodeo! It was so much fun! It was a great idea and I really think the kids had fun. They each got to run a timed barrel pattern and everyone got a raffle ticket for a prize. For anyone who is having a family oriented fundraiser, that is a great, fun way to raise money!! 
All in all it was a great event and I can't even to begin to describe how thankful I am for everyone's support and kindness! It was incredible to see everyone attend! Thank you so much again and I will see you at the rodeos!!Happy Trails,
Sam
