Rib Dinner shows the love for local community
The Rotary Club of Selkirk is hosting a rib dinner at the Gordon Howard Centre in Selkirk on Feb 15 and they are calling it the Rotary Ribapolooza.
“It’s our first try at a Valentine’s dinner and Ribapolooza. You get a full rack of ribs, and with that comes mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, a vegetable and dessert. The price is $40 per person, but with that, you also get a $15 tax receipt,” said Rotarian David Thorne.
The idea for the event came from wanting to show the love to residents in our community.
“It’s sort of an event that, we figured you can take that special person in your life out to, for a great deal, and to meet some fantastic company. It’s all about the fellowship. It’s not really a fundraiser, per se. We wanted to keep the price as low as possible and still cover the bills, of course. But really, we just wanted to extend that community spirit to all people within the Selkirk, St. Clements and St. Andrews areas, and just have a great night out and celebrate Valentine’s,” said Thorne.
This event will take place just after Valentine’s Day which is a time of year when the Rotarians like to engage with our community.
“We’ve done different things around Valentine’s in the past. We used to do a wine-tasting event at the golf course years ago, and then all of a sudden, COVID hit, and we had to really pivot to raffle ticket fundraisers. So for the last, I think, three years, we had the Lucky Loot and Lotto last year, and Viva la Vino was another wine giveaway during the COVID years. But, we’re past that now, and we really wanted to come together and celebrate some great fellowship with the citizens of Selkirk, and at the same time show people what Rotary does in the community,” said Thorne.
Though this isn’t really a fundraising event because they are trying to keep the tickets as reasonably priced as possible the Rotary Club of Selkirk has done some amazing fundraising in our community in the past which has contributed to our area in a big way. Some examples of this are their donation for the Selkirk Skate Park, the Echocardio Project donation to Selkirk Regional Health Centre, and the peace poles that now make their home in our communities. Right now, the big project that they are fundraising for is to give $150,000 to the Gaynor Family Regional Library for their planned expansion which will include more room for the kid’s area, increased study space, and increasing the amount of room for books and programming. They also have an ongoing project with local schools where they provide snacks for the weekends when students might not be able to access meal programs or other school nutrition resources.
“We’re proud of our accomplishments in our service club. You just have to look around, a lot of service clubs are struggling and our service club, I think we’re doing pretty good. We’ve grown our club with a lot of new people and new younger members. We’re pretty proud of that accomplishment, and everybody from the club is pitching in for this dinner,” he said.
Thorne explained that tickets are selling fast so residents who want to come to the event should reach out as soon as they are able because barbecue ribs in February are going to be a fun opportunity.
“I can’t wait to sink my teeth into some of those delicious ribs. We’ve got our expert chefs in the kitchen all ready to prepare and cook us a great meal and then have a great night, having fun,” he said.
The best way to contact the Rotary Club for your ticket is to email them at rotaryclubofselkirkmanitoba@gmail.com.
Thorne recommends that residents come down and check out the Ribopolooza event if they are interested.
Also if you are interested in becoming a member of the Selkirk Rotary Club they are always welcoming to more members that want to make our community a better place.
