A “monstrous” amount of money was turned in at the raffle table. Norm “Jake“ Johnson & Jim “Ellwood” Zidar

Raffle Another Winner!

The 2003 BBRC Raffle closed with a flourish on Friday, with nearly $20,000 turned in and more to be accounted for. Now on a fast track for closing out all accounts, a crew will meet in the 2nd Floor Conference Room in the Union Bank of California building tomorrow (Tuesday, November 4) to delete the staples holding together all those ticket stubs. The Ticket Tearing Party is a prelude to the drawing for the 2003 VW Beetle Convertible, which takes place Thursday afternoon, November 6, at the Trane Company, 2021 152nd Ave NE, Redmond at 1:30 p.m. The winner will be officially announced Friday evening, November 14 at the BBRC’s Anniversary dinner at the Harborside Restaurant on South Lake Union, Seattle.

Raffle Treasurer Kevin Jewell reported a total of $102,730 had been turned in at the close of business Friday. Other members who hadn’t closed their accounts made contact with the Committee and will do so prior to the Ticket Tearing Party on Tuesday. Kevin predicted the final amount “might well break all previous raffle records.” The Battle of the Bands saw the John DeWater producer group raising $53,834 or 52.4%, while the Steve Lingenbrink-led bands accounted for 48.896%, a close race, as was expected.

The band Crowded House, led by Mary Bell, with $6,500 in tickets sold, came in first with $12,280. It appears that almost every band came close to or exceeded its goal, which reflects the drive to have 100% participation, no matter what the amount. Second place finishers were the Newbie Brothers Band, made up mostly of new members. They extracted $8,472 in ticket sales.

The Blues Brothers, better known as Norm “Jake” Johnson and Jim “Elwood” Zidar praised the work and dedication of the entire membership, as they singled out chairmen of the various events that played a major role in making the raffle a success again – to the Golf Outing Committee, the Special Auction Raffle Committee, the Finance Committee, the Site Selection and Coordination Sales Committee, “the cooperative spirit couldn’t have been better.”