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Festival of Giving to offer virtual summer fun

Break out the sunscreen, the Festival of Giving is moving to the summer.

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Break out the sunscreen, the Festival of Giving is moving to the summer.

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The annual gala fundraiser for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent is traditionally held in April, but last year was postponed and then turned into a virtual event in October. More than $175,000 was raised.

This year, the festival will again be held virtually on Saturday, July 10.

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“We’re going to do it in the summertime. That way everybody can be outside and enjoy themselves,” foundation president Mike Genge said.

Organizers saw early this year they’d again have to host the festival online while guests partied at home.

“We looked at just the way things were going with COVID, and we realized that people really liked it (virtually),” Genge said. “When we moved the April date to October, people were still on board. … We had over 700 people go to the event virtually. It turned out perfect. We thought, why not do it again?”

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Tickets are scheduled to go on sale in early May. They’ll again cost $175. Each comes with a $100 tax receipt and one raffle ticket for the door prize: a 1996 BMW Z3 roadster convertible.

“It’s beautiful and it’s so much fun to drive. … You’ll want to get a ticket for this. It’s one of those cars you’ll never buy, but then you see it and you go, ‘Wow, this would be fun,'” Genge said, laughing.

This 1996 BMW Z3 roadster convertible will be the door prize in the 2021 Festival of Giving fundraiser for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent to be held in Chatham, Ont., on Saturday, July 10, 2021. (Contributed Photo)
This 1996 BMW Z3 roadster convertible will be the door prize in the 2021 Festival of Giving fundraiser for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent to be held in Chatham, Ont., on Saturday, July 10, 2021. (Contributed Photo)

Seven hundred tickets will be sold, although sponsors have already snapped up half. The event is the treatment centre’s biggest fundraiser.

A sellout is expected every year, no matter the door prize, but organizers still want to offer an eye-popping item.

“The festival’s always about doing something over the top,” Genge said. “It’s always about that. And if we can’t do that, then people go, ‘Aw, it’s kind of boring.’ We don’t want to be that boring event. We want to be that event where people go, ‘Wow!’”

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Each ticket also comes with a gift bag filled with items worth more than $75, he said. Guests will receive beer vouchers to Sons of Kent and Bayside Brewing Company, gift certificates to the LCBO and Schinkels’ Gourmet Meats, and more.

The festival’s theme is Summer Fun and Tan Lines.

“This year should be a blast because it’s going to be in July. You could be outside,” Genge said. “You get your prize bag; you take it home. You get your beer, shop local. Get your booze, shop local. Get your food, shop local. And then get everything pulled together with your family and then turn on the music.”

TekSavvy is the main sponsor. All sponsors giving at least $10,000 will have a band visit their home to perform for a few hours during the festival. It’s a way to thank the sponsors and also put money in local musicians’ pockets, Genge said.

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“The sponsors are excited because they’re going to be able to have a party at their house and have a socially distanced band show up,” he said. “The door prize is absolutely fantastic. We’ve got great prizes. I think last year we had 400 items for the online auction. I think we’re at about 300 already.”

The Festival of Giving will again be based at the Chatham Armoury. It will include an online auction in the week leading up to July 10 and a live auction that night.

The big items include a four-day trip to a remote lodge in the British Columbia interior accessible only by helicopter; a $14,000 home renovation package with plumbing, cabinets, flooring, electrical and a general contractor; and a two-person apartment for five days “anywhere in the world,” Genge said.

There are also many smaller items from local stores. Patio furniture and outdoor fireplaces and basketball nets because that’s what people want, just like last year, Genge said.

“They want things for their outdoors,” he said. “They were having a real hard time finding that kind of stuff, so we try to get stuff that people really want because of COVID.”

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