Nite at the Races
 
 
 
 
 
 
Two hundred plus community supporters attended ourthird annual Rotary “Nite at the Races” at the Sun City’s Orchard Creek Ballroom.  A live auction raised $5,600 from donated items such as vacations to the Grenadines and Maui, along with a Gourmet Pizza and a Texas BBQ dinner for eight.  Combined with proceeds from the “faux gambling, a total of over $12,000 was raised to support our community projects.
 
 
The “Races” are footage of actual horse races and are shown on three large ballroom screens.  Participants are given $10.00 in play money with their dinner/ entertainment ticket, and can purchase additional money for wagering on the ponies.  A staffed “betting” window was there for placing bets and collecting winnings.  After a superb dinner, the action started on the eight races that were to be broadcast that evening.  For the first start, the crowd was attentive but moderately quiet.  That quickly changed as the horses turned for the home stretch and the noise built.  From there on out, the decibel level just kept on getting louder.  One would think there was real money to be made here!
 
After the last race it was time to turn “winnings” into raffle tickets from which winners were drawn for each of the twelve “goodie” baskets, which included an Apple Watch and a private flight over San Francisco and Napa Valley.  Event organizer Clark Osterhout said “This has been our largest Races night and we’ll definitely do it again next year.  Most importantly, however, win or lose as individuals, the real winner was the Lincoln community”.
 
 
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