ESTEVAN - After a two-year break, Creighton Lodge is planning a comeback for its big annual fundraising supper.
On March 25, the lodge hopes to see many guests enjoying the buffet-style supper and the Duelling Pianos performance featuring Burn'N'Mahn out of Alberta. The event was originally planned to be hosted in 2020, and Creighton Lodge was looking forward to it when COVID-19 landed in Saskatchewan, resulting in a lockdown and cancellation of all events.
"We had them on the backburner until we felt it was safe to do so again," said Shelly Veroba, Creighton Lodge manager.
"We started planning our fundraiser about four months ago. With everything that's happening in the world, we're still forging ahead and hoping that by March 25, we're allowed to still have the event and it's safe to do so."
The evening will offer a buffet-style supper and an interactive show. The decision on the caterer for the night hasn't been made yet, but the lodge has already received a confirmation from Burn'N'Mahn, who will entertain hundreds of guests that night.
"We're looking at about 300 people. Right now we have about 240 committed tickets and we're hoping to reach the 300 goal," Veroba said.
"We will follow all restrictions put out by the province at that time."
The Creighton Lodge Trust Committee is a United Way Estevan member agency, and they usually hold just one big fundraiser a year, which allows them to move on their five- and 10-year capital budget projects.
Last year due to restrictions, they held a raffle, but with the situation changing they hope to get back to their in-person event, which always saw a great turnout and a lot of support.
The money raised through the event will help the lodge chip away at some of the needed repairs and upgrades.
"We're looking at our different capital projects right now. One of our biggest ones is roof replacement," Veroba said.
They replaced the roof over the 300 hall in 2020, spending over $78,000 on that section, but there is more to be done.
The parking lot has also been repaired, with a cost of $300,000.
"With our other three sections, we know that we have to start saving now, so that's when it hits and we're told that it's time to replace those roofs, we want to be ready," Veroba said.
Another ongoing project is sidewalk replacement. Sidewalks wear out and turn into tripping hazards for the residents and the lodge regularly replaces those to ensure everyone's safety.
Improvement of the outside doors is one more continuous process.
"A lot of our outside doors are quite old, they're a little bit cramped on the frame, which is hard to repair. So we'll be looking at replacing some of them. And we are also adding the handicapped hardware to four of our doors. That will just enable people who have a hard time with the handles to be able to open the door and get inside safely and stay out in the cold trying to get in," Veroba noted.
The lodge hired Sector 1 in 2020 to put the handicap accessibility hardware on the doors. Two doors were done in 2021, and the other ones still need to be upgraded.
"We do a lot of our projects annually. With our five- and 10-year capital … we like to make sure that if we're ever going to do a project, it is something that is a necessity and needs to be done versus something that we're just doing because it was on our list. We're just making sure that our capital list is there so that we know it's on our radar," Veroba explained.
Tickets for the Duelling Pianos supper are $100, of which $60 covers the expanses and the remaining $40 goes towards the lodge, so guests can get a $40 tax receipt. Tickets are available through Creighton Lodge trust committee members, five RMs or by calling the lodge at 306-634-4154.
