I’m a little bit in denial that it’s September already.  My garden is still producing, my flowers still look amazing, I haven’t seen too many grasshoppers yet, the lake is still warm, the weather has been AMAZING! I’d honestly take this weather year around.  But alas, here we go.  Pretty soon we’ll be seeing the school buses on the road in the mornings and afternoons, high school football games, chili cookoffs, hunting and all those things that come with Fall.

Speaking of hunting.  Have you purchased your raffle ticket for the Side-by-Side Raffle yet?  The tickets are $100 only.  And there’s great odds – we’re only selling a total of 300 tickets.  The second prize is $1,000 and third prize is $500 cash.  Of course, you can also take the cash equivalent of the side by side too or you upgrade to a more expensive one – the choice is yours! All of the proceeds of this raffle will go towards the new Eveleth Pocket Park.  They’ve already started the dirt work.  It’s going to be a really nice park on main street right across from Eggy’s Red Garter and Snickers. 

You can purchase a ticket at the Lodge, Eggy’s Red Garter, Margie’s Roosevelt, and 5 Seasons Sports in Eveleth – the rig is parked right in their showroom so you can see it even.  We also have tickets at Timber’s Edge south of Eveleth and the Downtown Bar, the Dug Out and the VFW in Gilbert.  Thank you to everyone who so graciously offered to sell tickets!! Now’s the time to get them sold!! The raffle is going to be held on September 16th at the Lodge.  Cowboy Angel Blue will be playing for your entertainment as well.  Bring a friend and join us for a fun night!

We’ve had a couple week hiatus on our bingo session, last weekend due to the Corn Feed/Car Show and then Labor Day weekend we’ve decided to allow our employees a nice long weekend to round out the summer. Starting on September 8th our Friday night bingo sessions will resume.  We’ve had some really great jackpots over the summer.  The more people that play, the better the pots are.

This month we’ve given some donations again finally.  Our play has increased a bit and our taxes are less as well.  The Hug Extravaganza in Chisholm sold cash raffle tickets and were able to raise $5,000 for their changing house at the new splash pad, if you get a chance to check it out, it’s really a nice place.  We also donated $500 to the Gold Star Family weekend event, $200 to Pay it Forward for Veteran’s fishing, $300 to food for the backpack giveaway, $250 to the MIB Quarterback Club, $350 to the MN Old Time Fiddle Championships, $200 to Lincoln School PTO for their Ninja warrior event, $250 to the Hibbing High School Sewing Class, $250 to the MIB Hoops Club, and $1,500 to the Mesabi Community College Foundation. 

Soon we’ll be awarding student of the month scholarships again, planning our Halloween curbside candy, our building’s 100th anniversary, Ladies Day, and before you know it, the family skating party in December. 

Keep those donation requests coming our way.  We cannot give a donation without a letter of request.  Letters can be mailed to the Lodge at PO Box 686, Eveleth, MN 55734 – Attn: Jen Evenson. 

Have a great back to school teachers and students.  We’ll be cheering for all of our new Rock Ridge Students and you can guarantee we will keep supporting you – our future!