The Killarney Lake Action Committee is at it again with fundraising efforts for their summer aeration project, having hosted Thursday night’s event at the Blarney Stone Restaurant in Killarney.


“The entire community showed their support in so many ways!” explains Fundraising Chairperson, Betty Sawatzky. Businesses and local residents donated prize packages for our silent and live auctions, and they helped us with selling event and raffle tickets, and then they brought their staff, neighbors and friends to the party!”


Local residents and the many that frequent Killarney from neighboring communities came to encourage the Killarney Lake Committee and just have a fun night out!

This has now brought the committee another step closer to reaching their goal of $86,000. “This event brought in just over $9,000 which is fantastic! It’s been a busy month for our committee,” says Sawatzky. “In early March we held our first ever Killarney Lake Fishing Derby, raising $2,200. With the funds from Thursday night we now have just over $55,000 in our bank account. That’s exciting!”


“There are so many people we want to thank who helped make this a smashing success! First of all,” she says, “the Blarney Stone staff was great and we thank Rick Pauls and his crew for helping us host this.”


“A very important part of the evening was our auctioneer, Allan Munroe. Everyone knows in this area that if they want a successful live auction with any event, Allan is the man for the job! He makes bidding and buying fun! We so appreciate his helping us with the event, and he doesn’t know this yet, but he’s already book for next year!”


Raffle ticket selling has been hot this past month with three large prizes, the favorite being the Traeger Smoker/BBQ donated by Rocky Mountain Equipment. “Everyone had their eye on that Smoker/BBQ!” says Sawatzky. “Hundreds were disappointed when their ticket wasn’t drawn as that unit would look great on anybody’s back deck!” Winner and local resident, Blaine McTaggart, will be enjoying his prize this summer!


“The 14’ emerald green kayak /paddle was subsidized by our local Home Hardware, and when I called second prize raffle winner, Roxanne Reimer, she burst out laughing! She told me she had just bought that ticket at the bake sale in the mall that very day!” Roxanne knows Killarney Lake very well having grown up in Killarney, and her and her family farm just outside of Ninette.


Third prize raffle winner was Taylor Shule. Taylor’s dad, Jamie Shule, , wrote his daughter’s name on the ticket. The family farms just north of Killarney and came to claim their prize Friday morning; that being a back yard fire pit with a beautiful cut-out design, built by Reimer Welding from Cartwright, MB.


“All in all it was a great event and we’ve been encouraged by so many to host another one like this next year. We’ll have to see about that,” Sawatzky laughs. “Right now we’ve got our sites on constructing and installing the aeration system this summer.”


Construction on the shed is starting and we’re putting plans in place as to what our next steps are. We’ve got a few more grant applications that we’re hoping to obtain, but with $55,000 in the bank we can look at purchasing equipment now. Our goal is $86,000. With support from Brian Moore at Moore’s Building, and Kelvin McMullen of MICNIC Construction, that number has been brought down to about $75,000. At that rate, we’re almost there! The funds thus far have come from our community alone and that's just amazing!"