Grand Event celebrates year 10 Forever Warriors make Grand Event even Grand-er

The 10th annual Lakeside Lutheran Grand Event headed to The Hay Loft in Watertown for a Denim & Diamonds-themed celebration. Hundreds of generous donors and faithful volunteers made the day a success that met and even exceeded organizers’ hopes. Online bidders and donors joined in from afar while more than 200 gathered in person in an open house-style afternoon, complete with food trucks and more than a dozen stations and features that complemented the long-awaited fellowship opportunities.

Forever Warriors were well represented, as 17 alum volunteered time and effort in planning and hosting the day; 26 alum donated auction items. Two classes—class of 1967 & class of 2018—donated to fill baskets of goodies for auction, and dozens more alum joined in the fun by bidding and donating.

Over $95,000 (net) was raised! Each year, proceeds are divided among three funds: general operating, financial aid, and building improvement (used to be building debt but not any more!). In addition, several student-led projects were able to be supported, many in full, including an augmented-reality sandbox for STEM and other classroom use, TechEd machine tools, videography headphones and Consumer Science kitchen enhancements, a new “Warrior Bob” mascot costume, the locker room rehab project and Operation GO mission trips.

See more photos of the day at llhs.smugmug.com/LLFamily/Grand-Event-10-A-Decade-of-Grand

Forever Warrior event volunteers

Rick Cody (‘86) : Penny Raffle Tammy (Zastrow ‘86) Iglesias: Alumni Cmte/Warrior Wheel Kimara (Knief ‘86) Winters: Exec. Cmte-Publications Jennifer (Haberman ‘94) Statz: Exec. Cmte-Operations Rebecca (Zastrow ‘95) Neumann: Alumni Cmte/Warrior Wheel Caleb Kasper (‘98): Geek Squad Jeremy Wrasse (‘05): Forever Warrior Wheel Stef (Gronholz ‘09) Wrasse: Alumni Cmte/ Warrior Wheel Jacob Schneider (‘12): event emcee Brock Vredeveld (‘14): Penny Raffle Sydney (Cody ‘15) Schroeder: Raffle station Jordan Veers (‘17): beer/wine pull station Maddie McKenna (‘17): beer/wine pull station Emma Statz (‘20): event floater

Forever Warrior business partners at event

Tim Otterstatter (‘81), The Hay Loft: event host (hayloftbarn.com) Heidi (Iles ‘98) Black, Countryside Jewelry: 20-carat sponsor/feature host (countryside-jewelry.com) Torey Smith (‘09), Crawfish Junction: event food truck (crawfishjunction.com)

Forever Warrior auction item donors

Darryl Hartwig (‘62): collectable Ferrari convertible toy Bev (Detert ‘64) Buelow: Young Living Essential Oils basket Ione (Jaeger ‘64) Ibeling: “Plantastic” basket Class of 1967: “Wee Warrior Bundle” & “Bed and Breakfast Roadtrip” baskets Marty (‘72), Chris (Bublitz ‘73), Jocelyn (‘00), Ben (‘04), Nick (‘08) Sell (Sell Family Wines): Edwin Brix Wine Trio (edwinbrix.com) Mark Ebert (‘84), Ebert’s Greenhouse Village: gift certificates (ebertsgreenhouse.com) Tracy (Roberts ‘86) Schwantes: 5 baskets (for Biking, Badger tailgating, Fido, Camping, Car detailing) David Griffin (‘88): Farmhouse Basket Kevin (‘93) and Gretchen (Iles ‘93) Klug: American Girl doll and bed Jen (Anderson ‘94) Zimmermann: Dog and Shrub Distillery gift basket (dogandshrubdistillery.com) Matt Redfield (‘95): 2 “Class of 2021” signs (etsy.com/shop/RevelationSignStudio) Tina (Berg ‘96) Kraft: “Breakfast In Bed” basket Laura (Meinel ‘00) Montez: Norwex Basket William Schrock (‘03): Welder’s gift bucket & tools Josh Manthe (‘04): 12 bags of Dekalb planting corn Annie (Bare ‘07) Wedl & Linda (Ebert ‘07) Kraemer, owners, Draeger’s Floral: Wine Trio (draegersfloral.com) Stef (Gronholz ‘09) Wrasse: “Night out at the Vault” basket (facebook.com/TheVaultBoutiqueandSalon) Torey Smith (‘09), owner Crawfish Junction: gift bucket (crawfishjunction.com) Kiara (Winters ‘10) Ristow: “Instant Home Manicure” ColorStreet basket (colorstreet.com/kristow/products) Esther (Hochmuth ‘12) Martens: “Thank Heaven for baby girls” basket Class of 2018: 2 “Come visit me at college Mom!” baskets Hayden Oestreich (‘19), Haylee Meske (‘21): wooden American flag Ryann Burger (‘20): 2 paintings