It's often said that you can't keep a good man down.
The Arcola Optimists have proved that the same goes for long established events, when the Arcola Optimist Snowmobile Rally went ahead despite there being no rally on Saturday, Jan. 28th.
The 19th year for the event looked bleak initially, as the small amount of snow made the rally a no-go this year.
However, the Optimists pushed ahead, and in the end more than 240 riders registered at the event, and enjoyed an afternoon at the Prairie Place Complex in Arcola.
"This is actually a record year for us in terms of sponsorship for the event," event chair Craig Erick said. "We have a record level of sponsorship in terms of dollars, and we have a record number of sponsors as well."
A total of $32,450 in money and goods were donated by a total of 104 sponsors this year.
In dollar value, this almost doubles last year's sponsorship support, which totalled $18,500.
Les Sinclair, who took care of finding sponsors for the event, explained that a change in marketing had much to do with the increases.
"This year we had offered sponsors the choice of support of $1,000, $500, $250, and $100." Sinclair said, "Last year it was just $100 and $250 as sponsorship numbers."
Obviously, the wide support from sponsors speaks to the success of the event in past years, and its popularity as well.
Of course, with all the sponsorship, registered riders had the opportunity to cash in on some great prize draws, and for the first year, a silent auction table had been set up as well.
Within the first hour of the doors opening, already more than 80 people had registered with the rally, and by noon, there were lines for the hot dog and sausage lunch sponsored by Equal Trucking and Moose Mountain Mud.
"I think people are coming out because it's such a well established event," said Jim Payton, who was busy watching the door. "It will be interesting to see what the response will be like, but I think we will still see a lot of people."
Payton ended up being correct in his assumption.
By the time the beef-on-a-bun dinner was served by the Arcola Figure Skating Club, which was sponsored by New Drill Generators, the Prairie Place Complex was full to the rafters, with hardly a seat empty.
Starting at 4:30 p.m. prize draws began, with the build up towards the grand prize raffle draw, the choice between a new snowmobile, quad-runner, or side-by-side four wheeler.
Glen Lawson acted as emcee through the prize draws, and when it came time for the grand prize draw, the entire hall grew hushed in anticipation.
Calling upon Carlyle resident Jamie Barsness to draw the winner, applause sounded when the name of Kevin Dyck was announced as the grand prize winner.
Sadly, Dyck wasn't in attendance to receive his prize, however a short cell phone call later, the surprised Dyck chose the side-by-side as his prize.
Two runners-up were also drawn, Joanne Ludwig and Sheldon Wyatt, each of whom won $1,000 cash.
"When I contacted Kevin he sounded pretty excited," said Arcola Optimist Club President Al Burton. "I guess it was quite a surprise. He ended up choosing the side-by-side as his prize for this year."
With that, things began to wind down at the rally, but everyone was breathing a sigh of relief at the success of a snowmobile rally, sans the rally.
"This is one of the biggest fundraisers in the Â鶹ÊÓƵeast," Erick said. "This is my first year chairing it, but it was pretty easy."
"Everyone pitched in, and so many people have been involved with it for so long, they just knew what to do," Erick said. "That made it easy for me, because everyone just went and did what had to be done."
"This is the biggest event the Optimist do every year," Burton said. "We also run the theatre, and make community calendars, but this event is the biggest by far."
"Last year the funds we raised were donated to the Arcola Daycare, the Moose Mountain Wildlife Federation, the Prairie Place Complex, and the Arcola Curling Club."
Despite the weather, the event was hailed as a success by all, and with next year marking the second decade of the event, all hope for more cooperation from Old Man Winter.
