October 21, 2013 at 3:22 p.m.
RIA sees record turnout for Faceoff Banquet
RIA sees record turnout for Faceoff Banquet
Those in attendance were treated to a buffet dinner and had a chance to bid on live and silent auction items donated by area businesses and friends of the ice association.
The banquet is held in conjuction with the start of the winter hockey and figure skating season at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
"It kicks off the season, hence the name the 'Faceoff' Banquet," RIA rink manager Brett Aylesworth said. "It's a great time. Everyone gets to have a good time. It's a lot of hockey parents, but some community members too. It's just a lot of fun to start the season with that."
Aylesworth said this year's banquet drew roughly 80 people, which is the event's largest crowd to date.
Two monetary donations were announced during the banquet. Title sponsor BMO Harris Bank contributed $1,000 to the RIA and host Holiday Acres presented a check for over $1,400, which was a percentage of the money it made from visiting hockey teams who stayed at the resort when playing tournaments at the RIA.
"They offered to give us a percentage back per every room for a hockey team that stays there," Aylesworth said. "People love staying at Holiday Acres. The hockey teams enjoy the atmosphere there and they do lots of things to cater to the hockey teams. All the hotels in town are great, of course, but the Holiday Acres donation back to the RIA helps us out a great deal."
Those donations, plus monies raised from auction items and raffles, will go to defer the RIA's operating costs.
"We created this to be able to keep fees low and provide some funds to improve our building," Aylesworth said. "Last year that lobby remodel, we got some money from grants, but the rest of it came from the money we raised at the previous Faceoff Banquets."
In addition to the banquet, Aylesworth announced Saturday that the RIA will hold its first annual golf outing May 18, 2014 at Rhinelander Country Club. RCC member Tim Kulhanek told the crowd that the highlight of that event will be memorabilia autographed by hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
"We're just in the initial planning stages on that," Aylesworth said. "(Kulhanek) just got word yesterday that Wayne Gretzky is going to sign a few things and endorse the tournament."
Aylesworth said money raised from that event will go toward upcoming maintenance at the ice arena.
"In a few years we're going to need a new cooling tower, which is basically the thing that dissipates all the heat from the compressors. Ours is wearing out and it's about an $80,000 to $100,000 piece of equipment. We'll need a lot of money to replace that," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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