31st anniversary of VFW a hit

Danielle Switalski

In the unfortunate event of a fire, what better way to celebrate than make a tradition out of it?

This is the 31st anniversary for the VFW.  The VFW hall burnt down in 1978 and had to be rebuilt.  Every year since the fire, the VFW has hosted a celebration for the people of Plains around Veteran’s Day, to simply come out and have a good time.

“It seems to get a little better every year,” said VFW member and volunteer for the event, Jim Gillibrand.

Most remarkable about this year’s event was the number of donations the VFW received from the Plains community.  They received between 50 and 75 donations from local businesses to be raffled off at the event.  Door prizes were given away every hour starting at 6:00 p.m. until midnight, when the large raffle prizes were given away, which included a new rifle, won by Plains local Susan Schroedel and beef bought from Birdwell’s Butcher shop in Thompson Falls, which was won by the Coylers.  Birdwell’s Butcher shop also cuts and wraps the beef to the winner’s specification.

“When I won this, I almost fainted and my husband was shell shocked.  I was shocked.  I never expected to win anything,” said Schroedel about her rifle win.

Although the anniversary party does not make any additional money for the VFW, rather any money made goes to the cost of the event, it is a way for the VFW to give back to the community with a nice evening full of door prizes. 

 “It’s a party, but we always try to give back to the community, we buy the beef and raffle it off, and we buy the rifle and we enjoy doing that because we’re community oriented,” said event organizer Joe Eisenbrandt.

Sax Cadillac from Havre, Montana also performed through the duration of the event starting at 8:00 p.m. after food was served.

Eisenbrandt said he was amazed at the number of local businesses who donated door prizes and would like to thank Shannon Browning for her assistance in preparing a lot of the food for the evening.

“I want to thank all the local businessmen that jumped on the bandwagon and gave door prizes and thank the community for coming out,” said Eisenbrandt.