Lioness’ capture the scratch at Annual Tailgate Fundraiser

Article and photos by Ethan Nahté

The Mena Lioness Lions held their annual Tailgate Fundraiser Dinner & Auction on Thursday, Sept. 28, raising money to help fund the Polk County Backpack Program.

Tickets for the event were $40 per made a few announcements, including the purpose of the evening’s event. She then introduced Nick Fowler of Fowler’s Auctioneers after the main course came out, which is when the bidding began for which table would get to be the first in line. That bid reached nearly $600. person or $280 for a table of eight. Many companies and businesses in Polk County purchased tables and filled most of the available space at The Ouachita Center on the UARM campus.

And what’s a tailgate party without a tailgate? Mena Ford parked a new truck within the building, decorated with football memorabilia to help set the mood.

The evening began with a variety of finger foods, chips and snacks on tables with a football theme while a re-run of an Arkansas Razorback vs. Texas Longhorn game on multiple screens. There was also a drawing for a rifle and another drawing for two locally handmade quilts.

Lioness president Ravan Wagner

Once everyone got settled and had eaten, the Dessert Dash was held. Each table chose one person to represent them. As table numbers were called, the runners raced across the room trying to get one of the scrumptious desserts on a table before someone else got the one they wanted in particular. The video footage of that race is available on the Pulse Facebook page.

The bidding then started up once more with a long row of items to bid on. Nidec created a couple of large metal pieces of art, one of a bearcat and one of a razorback. There were fancy chairs for two to use for tailgating or camping, there was a handmade recipe book that obviously took a lot of time and effort to collect, layout and design, there were baked goods, stays at resorts and cabins, and much more.

The attendees seemed to have a great time, enjoying the food, camaraderie and taking home their winnings all for a great cause.

The Lioness’ raised over $15,000.

Wagner said, “It was a smaller crowd than normal, but I think we still had a lot of fun and raised good money. The auctioneer, Nick Fowler, was amazing and kept the crowd entertained.

“While we didn’t raise enough to fully sponsor the backpack program, we are already talking about numerous other ways to get out in the community to raise the excess funds needed as well as continuing to apply for grants.

“We couldn’t help these children and the other organizations we do without our community. I personally couldn’t do it without the amazing women that are the Mena Lioness Lions Club.”