OVERTIME OUTDOORS: Return to yesteryear at DU banquet
Published 11:15 pm Sunday, September 29, 2019
Return to yesteryear could be the theme for the New Iberia Ducks Unlimited event scheduled for Thursday night at the Isle of Iberia RV Resort.
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When the combined general membership and sponsorship banquet gets underway at 6 p.m., it will mark the first fall event for members in six years. The local chapter, born in the mid-1970s, had general membership banquets each fall from its inception through 2013.
Jason Foster of New Iberia, chapter chairman who initiated the change to a spring general membership banquet after he took the helm in 2013, and other committee members decided to return to the fall slot in mid-February. In an email Feb. 15 to local chapter officials, Foster called it a “shift and pivot in the chapter’s strategy once again.”
“With so many fundraising events taking place throughout the year, solidifying our tradition of one event at a given time can become our chapter’s banner,” he wrote.
A move to a fall date closer to the duck hunting season was called for and approved.
The last spring banquet was held April 12, 2018.
The spring fundraising events, also held at Isle of Iberia, accomplished their mission, Foster has said repeatedly, noting positive traction and increased community awareness in DU in and around New Iberia. It was time to capitalize on that renewed popularity, he said.
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Combining the general membership banquet and the sponsorship banquet was a no-brainer, he said at the time because it gave organizers a chance to focus their energy into one evening of fundraising — Bucks for Ducks.
This year’s goal is to raise $100,000. Local DU officials hope to attract 60 table sponsors, five corporate underwriter sponsors and generate with the live and silent auctions a total of $40,000.
Thursday’s fundraiser brings together general members and sponsors in an event that has been called the social event of the year for local outdoorsmen. Corporate underwriter tables are $2,500 each, a table sponsor for eight is $800, sponsorships are $350, a single membership is $50 and Green Wing membership is $25.
Online ticket sales end Wednesday. Go to www.ducks.org/louisiana/events/59648/new-iberia-banquet.
Foster, director of business development for Bluefin Services LLC, and the committee members have been planning the upcoming event for months. At a mid-August meeting, Jason Broussard started lining up the cooking team and the menu items.
At the last spring banquet, banquet-goers dined on jambalaya cooked by Mike Lipari and Robert Romero, who cooked 15 pounds of rice to go with the 60 pounds of pressed sausage and smoked sausage that went with green beans, French bread and dessert.
They prepared the meal under a tent outside the main venue.
For more information on the fast-approaching DU event, call Foster at 985-637-3469.
DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.
