Chairman Mike Sulish along with co-chairman John Snook and the rest of the 2001 committee have orchestrated another successful banquet.   This year's banquet was dedicated in the memory of Captain Bill (Tug Boat Bill) Fiordland Sr.   We had plenty of seafood, that's for sure.   Prior to dinner we consumed 2100 cleaned shrimp, 336 fried oysters, 216 raw oysters, 500 raw clams, and many wings and hot dogs and quiches.

The committee tried some changes to the format this year after last years poor attendance and it paid off.   The first bold change was to go to a non-smoking venue, which was very popular, even among the smokers.   Another slightly new twist was the raffle format, which was for your choice of a fully guided trophy whitetail deer hunt or black bear hunt in Saskatchewan, Canada or cash.   The committee searched for a raffle manager and were very lucky to acquire the services of non-committee member Tony Seneca.   Tony sold over 165 tickets himself and made sure every member did his share.   Tony made himself available to the membership delivering tickets and picking up money at the members convenience.   The raffle was successful beyond our wildest imaginations with 868 tickets sold.   The winning ticket was drawn at the banquet, and the winner, Mike Lyons, was present.   Actually his wife's name was on the ticket, and we assume he will eventually tell her that she won.   Mike choose the cash prize.

The program book exceeded our goal setting an all time record.   Please support the business' that support us!   Bliz donated an NFL bag to raffle.   According to Tim these are very rare items!   Stop by his establishement the next time your in his neighborhood and purchase something to take fishing!

Deer week awards and fishing awards were also distributed, and everyone had a great time.   We had over 35 ads sold, and our gratitude goes to those members who bought and sold ads.   The banquet was supported by every member this year wheather it was selling tickets, advertisments, attending the gala event or clearing trails for Mike.   His normally published "non-supporter list" was a sheet of clean paper this year!   This was really a successful event not only because of the committee, but because of the support of the entire club.  A true club effort.

According to Mike the tickets for next year's gala event will go on sale shortly.   The date has been set for Saturday, February 22, 2003.   So make your plans now but don't expect the tickets to be ready for sale until April.   These guys need a well deserved rest!