Pheasants Forever enjoys near-record success at banquet

March 8 saw the Cypress Centre packed for the 30th annual Pheasant Forever banquet.

The event was a success, raising roughly $40,00, which is “very close to our all time high,” said Chinook Chapter President Curtis Ensminger.

“We’re pretty happy with it. The crowd was on the high side of anything we’ve had, and the fundraising was similar,” said Ensminger. “Towards the top of the maximum we’ve had, I think, and things went very efficiently. And we had lots of merchandise and lots of interested bitters, and so on. So it was all pretty positive in our books.”

The event featured several raffles, a silent auction, as well as a live auction as lead by auctioneer Darren Lutz and was attended by the Medicine Hat Exhition and Stampede’s Rodeo Queen Emma Atkinson and Princess Caitlyn O’Connor, who helped display items during the auction portion of the evening.

Member Leonard Hansen was honoured with a lifetime achievement award, something that Ensminger said started roughly five years ago.

“When Len decided he wanted to step back a little bit, Jeremy Rattai felt that we should award this award to him, and everybody was in agreement,” said Ensminger. Hanson will be honoured with an addition to a mural near the Ross Glen Creek Project, as well.

“Ross Creek is a good sized project that we’ve put a bunch of money into and are continuing to try and improve,” said Ensminger. “When people are driving by there, we hope they’ll give it and the mural a look, it’s really quite nice.”

Funds raised were quite high for the event, and will go towards operation and purchasing additional land for habitat restoration.