The local Ducks Unlimited committee celebrated its 25th anniversary April 26, with a wine and cheese social at the Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre.
Ninety-nine people turned up Friday night鈥攁 great turnout compared to previous years鈥攁nd were treated to a live and silent auction, some great food, a 鈥渂eer pong鈥� fundraiser and even a ladies moose calling contest.
The local committee is chaired by Greg Van Tighem, and operates as an offshoot of the larger Ducks Unlimited organization. According to long-time committee member Ralph Melnyk, the organization invests at an eight-to-one ratio the money raised by committees in Canada.
鈥淚f we raise a quarter million dollars here, if you do the simple math, we鈥檝e probably been able to leverage another two million dollars for investment in Canada,鈥� he said.
Friday night at the auction, the committee was doing its part to add to that sum. Auctioneer Gordon Murison鈥攄ecked out in a bright red shirt, cowboy hat and suspenders鈥攗sed his singsong charm to pressure bidders into giving up about $15,000 collectively.
Van Tighem said after the committee pays for the items it auctioned off, it should net about $7,000, and most of the money raised will go directly back to conservation programs in Alberta.
Van Tighem started the committee 25 years ago, after his brother Gordon and Ducks Unlimited Regional Director Jeff Forsyth talked him into it. His 鈥渇irst call to help鈥� was Marty Handlon, who became the long-time co-chair of the committee.
The committee鈥檚 first event was a sit-down dinner and auction at the Jasper Activity Centre, which was a precursor to the wine and cheese social the committee now hosts annually. And although it now organizes just the one fundraiser each year, for years they were much more active.
For a long time the committee put on a Christmas auction in December, and their wine and cheese social was paired with a golf tournament. Eight or nine years in they dropped the golf tournament (it was too tough finding tee times at the busy Fairmont golf course), and not long after the Christmas auction fell away because it was difficult competing with all the December Christmas parties.
Melnyk said that despite the shrinking number of events it holds, the committee has raised more than $250,000 for wildlife conservation and wetland restoration over its 25-year lifespan.
That money has been 鈥渓everaged with funds from Ducks Unlimited Canada and 鈥� the United States to purchase land and restore wetlands across every province in Canada.
According to Ducks Unlimited鈥檚 Dale Scott, in Alberta alone the organization has helped conserve more than two million acres of wilderness.
鈥淒ucks Unlimited is kind of like church鈥攚ithout being blasphemous鈥攁nd what I mean by that is that we鈥檙e in the local communities 365 days a year. The lights are on, the doors are open, and there are projects going on across Alberta,鈥� he told the crowd at the social Friday night.
And while the main goal that evening was to raise money, there was still time for the ever-popular moose calling competition. The competition is a longstanding tradition in Jasper, and Van Tighem said as far as he鈥檚 aware it鈥檚 not done anywhere else in the world.
Husbands and boyfriends got the chance to nominate a lady, who went onstage to give her best impression of both a male and female moose. About a dozen women took part, and after some very strange and very unexpected crooning, four winners were chosen by the expert judges.
Van Tighem, who hosted the competition, said it is usually the highlight of his night, even if most of the supposed moose calls are indiscernible from dying animals.
鈥淪ome of them were pretty bad, they didn鈥檛 even sound like a moose, more like a bird or something,鈥� Van Tighem said.
Fortunately, though, Candice Davies showed up and gave a call that outdid the rest, making her the moose call champion of 2014.
For Van Tighem, things like the moose call competition, and the 鈥渇antastic people鈥� involved have made his 25 years as part of Ducks Unlimited so much fun.
鈥淟et鈥檚 just see if we can do another 25 years,鈥� he said.
聽Trevor Nichols
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