News

College's Evergreen turns 30

By Scott Wagar

09/24/2013

Dakota College at Bottineau’s Evergreen will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, which will take place on Sept. 28 at Cobblestone Inn.

“The theme this year is the Great Gatsby Party, and what is symbolic about that is that pearls are big and important part of the Great Gatsby and pearl is the 30th anniversary gift,” said Brandy Simpson, executive director of DCB’s Foundation Office. “So, that is how we decided on the 30 year anniversary theme.”

Evergreen is a formal affair where guests pay to attend the event for a meal, drinks and the opportunity to participate in a silent and live auction. The merchandise for the silent and live auctions is donated gifts by individuals and businesses from the area communities.   

Through the foundation office, Evergreen’s mission the past three decades is to raise money for student scholarships and promote the college, which has been a success for the foundation.

“With the exception of one year, each year the donations at Evergreen have increased with the past three years being record breaking years,” Simpson said. “We have been topping ourselves each year and we are hoping to do that this year.”

In 30 years of Evergreen, the foundation office has raised over a half a million dollars with its fundraiser. The record was broken last year with $41,806 raised. This year, during its 30th anniversary, the foundation’s goal is to break the record again and have a number of special gifts for its guest to bid on.  

“We have some good live auction items this year which include front row seats to Alabama at the Norsk Hostfest this year, good seats for a Bronco and Kansas City Chiefs game, UND tickets and Twin tickets,” Simpson said. “We are also going to have a photo booth with props for people to go in a take some fun photos and a VIP Table where a $1,000 gets an individual eight tickets to Evergreen, a bottle of wine and extra drink tickets.”

Evergreen was established in 1984 and raised $8,433 in its first fundraiser on Sept. 27 at the Turtle Mountain Lodge at Lake Metigoshe. The first event saw 182 guests with 54 items that were auctioned off during a live auction. The prizes consisted of numerous items from a one-half hour plane ride donated by Virgil Kottsick to an oil painting given by Estelle Jelleberg.

The first few years of the event was a black-tie affair, but as Evergreen continued it went from a black-tie event to a more inormal but casual occasion.

The primary auctioneer for the first Evergreen was Rod Hiatt, and for the past 30 years he has conducted every live auction for event.
Within a decade of the first Evergreen, the event was able to more than double the money the foundation received for scholarships.

A tradition of Evergreen is to choose a different theme for the event with one or two individuals from the area who oversee the event and theme. From Dakota Harvest to Hollywood Nights to Passport to Paris the themes bring an allure of charm and glamour to the event.    
The foundation office, which originated in September of 1983, had a nine member executive board with 11 additional directors that oversaw the Evergreen event. The board consisted of Dr. Michael Smith, Reuben Ellingson, Dr. Kenneth Kihle, Jerry Jorgenson, Leon Richard, Dave Geiszler, Dorothy Refling, Swain Benson and Sally Foss who was the first executive director of the college’s foundation office.

Directors included Duane Larson, Floyd Eklund, Otto Kovash, Ric Theel, Duane Getzlaff, Bill Nero, Sr. Paul Ohnstad, Jerry Long, Allen Henning, Ken Grosz and Olive Benson.

Outside of the Turtle Mountain Lodge, Evergreen has been held at the Norway House, City Armory and now the Cobblestone Inn. With a larger venue, more tickets will now be able to be sold and the foundation office’s goal is to sell 400 tickets this year.

Individuals, who want to purchase tickets for Evergreen, can purchase them at all financial institutions in Bottineau and DCB’s Foundation Office.

The event starts at 5:30 p.m.