Wild game dinner

8th annul wild game dinner at St. Pat’s featured many suprises

By Emma Palova

Parnell, MI -To close off this year’s hunting season, which runs in Michigan from Nov. 15 through Nov. 30, my husband Ludek and I went to the annual wild game dinner at St. Pat’s on Dec.1.

Neither one of us hunts anything except maybe seashells or Petoskey stones on Lake Michigan, but we’ve heard nothing but great things about this premier event. It is also impossible to get into this camo gala complete with a gun raffle. I still don’t know what got us in this year, since most people buy tickets for next year as soon as one dinner is over.

I got a phone call that we have been added in. The event is a fundraiser for the youth ministry. What followed was a surprise after a surprise. They just never stopped coming in.

First of all I noticed horses and a mule in the gym set up with tables for the dinner. There were live trees behind them and bales. On the basketball posts were stuffed trophies of a cougar, but I couldn’t see the other one.

The place was full to the rafters of its capacity of 385 people. I felt like on Tenterhookssince I didn’t know what to expect, let alone what to wear. So I just wore a dress and boots. My husband was the one who was dressed up to “kill” in his navy dress jacket with a shirt with fish design and a green tie.

There was only one person who beat him in his white velvet vest, bow tie and black shirt. He looked like he lost his way from Hollywood into the northern woods. Later, I found out it was the announcer.

However, I didn’t feel out-of-place or out of my element in spite of all the camouflage outfits. The boots saved me. Since, it was a potluck, there were hundreds of different dishes ranging from pheasant, venison meatballs, venison salami and steel head.

A creative giveaway

Plus I had a task too. I donated my new book “Shifting Sands Short Stories” into one of the baskets. The prizes also were great; everything a hunter could possible dream of, and for his hunter’s widow too. These included crossbows, bows, camo outfits and much more.

But, the best was yet to come. That was the gun raffle and the bidding on a steak and beer dinner with Fr. Mark Peacock. The dinner with the Fr. Mark was auctioned off for $2,500 for six couples.

A 50:50 raffle wrapped it up. There were also games set up in the cafeteria along with the prizes, and the buffet style game dinner. This was the 8th year for the dinner, that has been steadily growing.

It was a night to remember. Thank you for an unforgettable experience.