The Cultural Mosaic fundraiser held at the Lampman School on October 20 was an extremely successful event, said Lampman recreation director Hailey Ingham.
Nearly 400 people attended the function, which featured food booths from different countries, a live auction and a silent auction. Ingham said they are still tabulating the bills that have to be paid, but the live and silent auctions brought in about $92,000 combined, and they received more than $60,000 in corporate sponsorships.
Funds raised at the mosaic will be used to pay for roof repairs at the town's arena. The work on the roof occurred in July, and Ingham expects that the mosaic will fetch enough money to pay for the cost of the project, which was nearly $100,000.
"Any remaining money, we are going to use to put right back into the community itself, so we are going to be upgrading some recreation facilities, and helping make the community a better place," said Ingham.
There were a couple notable items in the live auction, she said. One was a signed Derrick Pouliot Portland Winterhawks jersey. Pouliot, a highly-touted defenceman who used to live in Lampman, was a first round draft pick by the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins in June's NHL draft. His parents were at the banquet.
The jersey sold for about $7,000, Ingham said.
Another popular auction item was the use of the dressing room that is typically reserved for the Lampman Imperials senior hockey team. The Imperials won't be part of the Big 6 Hockey League this year, so a local men's recreation hockey team purchased the rights for the dressing room.
The mosaic featured food booths, as opposed to a traditional buffet line-up or a sit-down meal. People could sample wine and cheese from a French booth, a Mexican chip and salsa bar, several types of salads at a Greek display, garlic bread and lasagna at an Italian booth, German sausage and perogies, and Belgian dessert. Food was prepared by community members and arena users.
This was the first time that Ingham has been part of a big fundraiser in Lampman. She was hired as the recreation director earlier this year, and was amazed with the generosity of the town's people, as well as people from other communities who attended the function.
"I have heard in the past that the people of Lampman are very supportive, and they definitely lived up to that reputation," said Ingham. "It was just a very cool thing to be a part of, and I had never experienced anything like that in my life."
