Evening with Friends event a huge success

The 2024 An Evening with Friends event was fun, well received and profitable for the North Big Horn Hospital Foundation, Marketing, Foundation and Grants Coordinator Janet Koritnik reported this week.

Held Saturday night at the Lovell Community Center, the annual event featuring talented comedic musician Wayne Faust was a big hit, Koritnik said.

“People said it was great, a really good time, and the entertainment was good,” Koritnik said. “The charcuterie table was beautiful.”

The long, colorful and tasty table of charcuterie boards was well received, she said, skillfully prepared by hospital infusion nurses Dalyn Farwell and Traci Kannard.

Around 150 tickets were sold for the event, and some 135 persons attended, Koritnik said, a 90 percent turnout. And everybody appeared to have a good time, she added.

Route 66 featuring Ron McClure and Emelyn Pimentel provided music during a social time from 5:30 to 7 p.m. as attendees perused three long tables of silent auction items and enjoyed food and beverages.

A music and comedy show featuring Faust delighted the audience from 7 p.m. on, featuring a steady stream of jokes, audience participation, original music, top notch guitar and banjo playing and the famous and always popular “Bald Guys” song featuring local gentlemen Wes Mangus, Bill Matthews, Mike McArthur, Jeff Pearson, Chad Petrich and Bob Rodriguez.

Faust even wrote a song for the evening in honor of North Big Horn Hospital recently being named a Top 20 critical access hospital.

“Everyone I talked to thought he was great,” Koritnik said of Faust. “The show was fun and easy to listen to.”

North Big Horn Hospital District CEO Eric Connell spoke about the Top 20 honor, and foundation board president Pearson thanked Janice Mangus and her family for the generous donation to the foundation by her sister, the late Caryl Turner, from the Caryl Turner Estate.

The Evening With Friends event is estimated to have netted the hospital foundation around $12,000 after expenses, Koritnik said, which might be a record for the event, she noted. The silent auction alone generated around $5,000, she estimated.

“Overall, it was just great,” Koritnik said. “I’d like to thank the community for their support as well as the foundation board, Ron and Emelyn, Dalyn and Traci and our hospital employees.”

All proceeds from the fundraising event will go toward upgrading patient rooms at North Big Horn Hospital.