Close to 200 people attended the annual Black Tie Bingo, organized by Rocky Mountain Equipment (RME) as a fundraiser for the Canadian Tractor Museum, held at Memorial Hall Nov. 18.
While total fundraising numbers from the night were not available at presstime, museum executive director Barb Kostiw said they expect to make more than $10,000.
Jim Wood, raised on the family farm southwest of Westlock and currently Rocky Mountain Equipment (RME) chief sales and operations officer, was once again the MC for the event, the second Black Tie Bingo that’s been cancelled the past two years due to COVID-19 restrictions.
After dinner, a PowerPoint presentation organized by RME gave a brief the history of the museum, what it contains and some thoughts for the future by museum friends, curator Rod McFarlane, Kostiw and current board president Steven Miller.
One of the highlights of the evening included making a special presentation to the McFarlane for his “continuing contributions to the museum.”
“This award acknowledges a gentleman for his contributions and volunteerism above and beyond all expectations. He continually supports the museum at every opportunity. Some say he lives at the museum. He’s always willing to lend a hand when needed and working on project,” said Wood.
McFarlane does indeed spend many hours at the museum each week at various tasks, gives guided tours to visitors, and is very familiar with the history of tractors and other items.
“It’s a pleasure to be honoured. More than I even expected. I thank everybody for honouring me,” said McFarlane.
During the evening, Miller talked about some of the goals and vision for the future, noting too, that the facility is beginning to be known far and wide. He mentioned as an example, the recent donation to the museum of two restored unique Farmall M tractors by a woman in Ontario who felt this was the ideal place for these two tractors from her late husband’s collection.
Bingo time followed, with everyone participating which each game played with a completed ‘X’ being the winning card in each game. There were some exciting moments, especially when a winner was called.
Howard Ringstad created a bit of excitement of his own, auctioning off several items and gaining more funds for the museum — the final item was a one quarter scale model John Deere “AR” tractor, which came from the late Albert Miller’s private collection. Terry Dietrich was the successful bidder and paid $1,050.
Another exciting moment of the evening was the “dash for diamonds” where 60 identical gift boxes, with one containing a pair of diamond earrings were sold off — when the boxes were simultaneously opened, Elien Mueller found she had won the diamond earrings valued at $500.
Another event of the evening was the 50-50 cash draw as Toni Siegle won the $550 cash prize, and promptly donated it back to the museum.
