PC chapter to hold 25th annual fundraiser

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The Pheasant Country chapter of Pheasants Forever will hold its 25th annual fundraiser banquet Friday night at The Corn Palace.

The banquet, which is expected to have between 550-600 people in attendance, will start at 5 p.m. with raffle items prior to the 7 p.m. dinner.

President of the Mitchell-based Pheasant Country chapter, Dave Allen, said this year’s committee has set up a lot of “fun and unusual stuff” for the 25th anniversary celebration.

“We have many raffle items, including 25 guns,” said Allen, who has been involved with the annual banquet for 13 years and is serving as president for the fourth year.

The banquet will again be the largest fundraiser of the year for Pheasant Country. Tickets for the banquet are $50 and include the roast pheasant dinner and five issues of the Pheasants Forever magazine.

All the money raised Friday night will stay “100 percent local,” Allen said. The board members of the Mitchell-based Pheasant Country chapter will decide what events will help fund for the next year at a meeting in early January.

Since last October, Pheasant Country gave $25,000 toward a land acquisition — Pintail Pass — in Sanborn County. It also gave $2,500 to the Mitchell Trap Club to sponsor the state youth trap shoot in Mitchell. It gives $10,000 per year to the pheasant biologists in Mitchell, and it has hosted a youth fishing tournament and two youth hunts.

“We’ve had a lot going on,” Allen said.

It also gave $12,000 to buy a feed drill, which local farmers can use for their seeding needs.

“It’s an expensive drill,” Allen said. “But now all the farmers can have access to one. It helps them put the seeds in the ground.”

This fall, the Pheasant Country chapter also has teamed up with the Dakota Wesleyan University cheerleaders. The groups will be present to serve Famous Dave’s food at Cabela’s from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

“Money from that stays 100 percent local, too,” Allen said. “All the earnings are for the cheerleaders and for the pheasant chapter.”

Tickets for the banquet will be on sale Thursday and Friday at Cabela’s and can also be purchased at Leader Hardware and & Sporting Goods or the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, call Allen at 996-8649.

Tags: pheasants forever, outdoors, pheasants