The Canadian Tractor Museum in Westlock held a successful fourth annual Black-Tie Bingo fundraise event at the Westlock Inn Pembina Room Saturday (Nov. 8), with a good crowd in attendance.
The Black-Tie event is the major fundraiser of the year for the museum, MC Jim Smith pointed out. “Through your generosity, we are able to keep this world class facility open, and I believe that speaks for itself.”
Westlock Mayor Jon Kramer, speaking on behalf of the Town of Westlock and Council, welcomed everyone and thanked them for the support of the Museum through this event. Originally from Saskatchewan as a farm boy, one generation removed from the farm, he spoke of visiting the museum with his parents.
“It was so special to hear Dad’s stories. It was so interesting to walk up and down the aisles (of tractors in the museum). It’s pretty special to have in our community, and even for a guy who is one generation removed, we know the value of having this (the museum) in our community. We’re excited to be able to support the Canadian Tractor Museum and sing its praises whenever we go outside the community."
Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken brought greetings on behalf of Premier Danielle Smith, the Government of Alberta and the constituents of the riding.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for Westlock to be able to have such a unique museum, and it’s been essentially established on the backs of volunteers. In short, we’ve all have pitched in from grant funding, volunteer efforts, donations; a lot of the tractors there donated, and this evening helps to keep it open," he said.
“It’s a community effort. Anywhere I go, whether it’s in the north of the province or the south, or throughout my riding, I run into people who have been to the Canadian Tractor Museum. It’s a special place, and I’m happy that you are able to come and support it here this evening.”
Smith introduced guests from Town Council and introduced the Museum board of directors, which included President Steven Miller, Vice-President Brent Sterling, Directors Garry Wood, Henry Goller, Joe Rosich, Randy Wold from the Town of Westlock, Art Purdy who looks after the sawmill, Executive Director Barb Kostiw, and himself.
Museum board of directors President Steven Miller thanked the major contributors to the Museum, first Rocky Mountain Equipment for their annual $10,000 per year, plus an additional $5,000 for the Black Tie Bingo and for posters, etc., to the Town of Westlock for their $10,000 support, and a third major sponsor joining in last year, Martin-Deerline (now Horizon Ag and Turf) for their ongoing contribution of a yard tractor with loader and grass cutter to push snow and cut the eight acres of grass at the Museum.
He also thanked the prize sponsors for the four bingo games, live auction items and silent auction items.
“This is a fundraiser, but we’re also here to have fun,” he added.
Regarding the Museum itself, Miller noted, “This is a special museum in lots of ways,” including online, extra attractions such as the model railway and other features for the whole family. “We’re always looking for ways to make it better.”
“I’m proud to say we have some fantastic volunteers,” he said, noting so far this year, there has been more than 2,000 hours of volunteer labour put into various aspects of the museum operation.
“It’s been a busy year. We renovated the front gallery, giving it a fresh look after 20 years. A 20th anniversary of the Museum was held at the end of May, and lots of work was done on the outside yard.
Miller spoke of a couple of future projects the Tractor Museum is working on include another outside storage building in collaboration with the Vintage Tractor & Machinery Club in the hopes of having it in place by next fall. Another project, in collaboration with the Westlock Pioneer Museum is to move the old Vermilion Springs one-room school from its current location at Westlock Elementary School to the fenced enclosure of the Canadian Tractor Museum, where it is felt it would be safer, and used for other program purposes at the Museum.
He spoke of other plans in the works with both museums, and more will be revealed on that in the future. One priority is to tell the story of agriculture and the community and history and heritage in this area, he said; to tell the story of our forefathers and what agriculture has contributed to this area and the province. A second priority is to collaborate with community groups and individuals to find new ways to all work together. A third priority he noted is protection of our displays and artifacts and the growth and expansion of both the Tractor Museum and the Pioneer Museum for future generations, and work together to provide a strong voice for the community and the heritage of this community.
Following the four bingo games, with winners receiving major items donated by local businesses. After the bingo, several live auction items were sold, with auctioneer Nick Gulka calling the bids. There were also a number of silent auction items as well, all of which contributed to the financial success of this fourth annual Black Tie Bingo.
The Westlock Inn prepared an excellent western buffet meal which all enjoyed. Prior to and during the meal, Ryan Manton provided music on his saxophone, and joined in with the Nostalgics band to round out the evening with fine listening and dancing music.
