An elegant intimate affair

Sharon McLeay    

Times Contributor 

 

The fall fundraiser, held at the Gleichen community hall Sept. 15, was outstanding and drew some celebrities along with area residents.

Dignitaries included MLA Jason Hale and his wife Maggie, Mark Sutherland and his wife Dina representing EnCana, and David Wilkes and Debbie Campbell from Alberta Treasury Branch. Three County of Wheatland councillors-Alice Booth (who also helped organize the event), Brenda Knight (assisted at the bar) and Berniece Bland gave their support to the event. The Juno award nominees Saskia and Darrel de la Ronde also helped towards achieving the goal for the community hall upgrades. They were seated throughout the crowd and enjoyed exchanging stories with their table partners.

“We are happy to support a community effort. We love to see a community that gets together and lends a hand,” said Saskia de la Ronde.

The elegantly decorated tables were a black and gold fall motif, complete with candlelight. The supper was a hearty home-cooked beef dinner that rural partygoers have come to expect. The desserts were decadent, adorned with sparklers that surprised everyone as the dishes were paraded to the dessert table.

Contributions from the dignitaries helped support the required repairs to the hall’s roof and upgrades for handicap accessibility and fire doors. The overall tab for the hall was $250,000. The community was required to raise funds for a matched grant from the government. Mark Sutherland was there to present a $50,000 gift from EnCana to the community; ATB representative David Wilkes presented the community with a  $2,500 cheque to cover both the North and South doors and accessibility funding. Local residents Doris and George Lindman also made a donation of $500, out of which a new big BBQ for the hall was purchased. Fundraising is ongoing with membership sales, guaranteeing reserved seating for all events, 50/50 tickets sale, and raffle money going towards the goal.

The de la Ronde duo sang two sets of songs that drifted out to touch the hearts and lives of the audience, reflecting stories from the Canadian prairie and Saskia’s Dutch immigrant roots. Like travelling minstrels of old they wind their way to venues from Vancouver where they live, across the western provinces, when they are not in concert. The latest CD is called Songbirds. The various CDs were made available to the audience and can be purchased online at www.saskia.ca. Clips can be heard on YouTube. The de la Ronde’s have played Europe and opened for acts such as Gary Fjellgaard and Valdy. Their awards are Juno nominees, Album of the Year, Aboriginal Artist of the Year (times three), as well as Songwriter of the Year in Saskatchewan. They also conduct workshops for budding artists. Their next performance was Sunday at the Hanna United Church.