A colourful variety of about 90 items for the silent auction were admired by about 500 people during the banquet and auction evening at the Festival of Trees in Falher to raise funds for Falher Medical Clinic.

A healthy boost of funds was raised for Falher Medical Clinic at the 12th annual Festival of Trees on Nov. 24 and 25. “We netted a record of over $50,000 although we are still finalizing our figures,” says an elated Barbara Gardecki who chairs Falher and Area Community Association for Professional Services (CAPS) which owns and operates Falher Medical Clinic. “We’re very pleased with the support and the funds we raised.” “We are grateful for the huge turnout and support tonight, and the overwhelming donations of wonderful items for our auctions,” says Gardecki, as she spoke to the record crowd of 500 people at the dinner and auction Saturday night. The live auction raised $53,000 before expenses while the silent auction with about 90 items raised $11,000, she says. More and larger non-Christmas items for auctions helped raise more funds Rather than focusing on Christmas three and other seasonal items, this year’s live auction featured 30 various items including a quad that netted $10,000 and a fly-in fishing trip in Manitoba to Kississing Lodge near Flin Flon that netted $6,000, a log garden cabin and children’s playhouse, a front-load washer and dryer, an oak-finish poker table, along with some Christmas trees. This major funding reduces the $160,000 mortgage on the clinic to about $110,000. CAPS wants to further decrease the debt soon so it can focus on fundraising to help recruit more physicians to the clinic. “We want to raise funds to establish a scholarship program for medical students,” says Gardecki. Many factors contribute to record fundraising festival She believes the significantly higher support can be attributed to many factors including extensive local advertising, no other major community events that weekend, a prosperous year for farmers, more and larger auction items, and the clinic being without a physician for eight months when Dr. John Loge was in the Congo from January to September. “With the clinic not having a full-time physician for nine months, this may have affected more people more personally,” says Gardecki. Mr. Dressup makes special appearance during live auction Dr. Loge added to the spirit of the evening during the live auction as he dressed up as a clown, surgeon, lumberjack, fisherman, and nerdy auctioneer. “With Dr. Loge more involved, that inspired more people to participate,” says Gardecki. Many of the auction items were recruited by Dr. Loge. Dr. Loge pleased with strong support throughout region for medical services “This was truly a community and regional event,” says Dr. Loge. “For the size of community and region, we got overwhelming support, with about 10 per cent of residents attending on the Saturday night.” “This proves that local people are interested in the community (region), and support non-profit projects, and providing medical services in Falher is valuable to many people,” says Dr. Loge. He was extremely pleased with the strong support from the business community, by those attending the event and in the high number of donations. “We were thrilled with the support over the weekend,” says Gardecki, noting that about 200 people enjoyed the brunch on Sunday. Celebrating under the theme “The Nutcracker Suite”, entertainment for the dance was provided by Lipstick and Whiskey, a group of local musicians. Organizers are overwhelmed by the strong support throughout the Smoky River region and very grateful to the numerous volunteers and the musicians in the band and the auctioneers for their time and support for this event. Celebrating under the theme “The Nutcracker Suite”, entertainment for the dance was provided by Lipstick and Whiskey, a group of local musicians.