Dinner helps ALERT

by Daily Inter Lake
| April 26, 2012 9:33 AM

The biggest fundraising event of the year for the ALERT air ambulance service takes place Saturday at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

The 34th annual ALERT banquet kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour and dancing to Company Brass, a longtime Flathead Valley jazz band.

Guests are encouraged to dress in Kentucky Derby attire for this year’s “Run for the Roses” theme with optional hats, suits or favorite Montana outfit to add to the fun of the evening.

Festivities include dinner served at 7 p.m. A silent auction featuring locally donated art, entertainment and a variety of merchandise runs throughout the evening. A live auction starts later with big-ticket items sold with help from Gardner Auction.

Prize drawings will give away more than $11,000 throughout the banquet.

Highlights from the past year of ALERTS operation and the people it touched make up another part of the evening’s program.

A local emergency medical service or quick response unit will receive the annual Clyde Smith Award, honoring the logger who put up his business as collateral for the loan that got ALERT off the ground.

To purchase tickets, call Lori Alsbury at 752-1710. Learn more at www.nwhc.org/foundation.