This year's Valentine's Day had a little extra BANG in it for some of us!!! Many couples, along with friends came out and spent this special day at the Tampa Bay Sporting Clays to help raise funds and awareness for FARA.
It began with a wonderful welcome committee at registration, passing out the scorecards and shells. Everyone then made their way over to the raffle/auction area to check out all the wonderful trips, guns and memorabilia. Those guns get quite the attention at the raffle! There were also some unforgettable experiences such as Greece, Costa Rica, Fishing Tour and even a private Helicopter Ride. You know it's a FARA event when these types of items are part of the auction!
Then it was time to SHOOT!!!! Everyone met up with their teams and got on their carts and went into the woods with smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, some of us stayed back for the World of Beer tasting/pairing experience. We tasted many different types of beers and paired them with different foods such as dried cherries, nuts and even blanched green beans. You'd be surprised what flavors can enhance others, it's quite incredible.
The sun began to go down as everyone was making their way back in. Some gladly turned in their scorecards, others were a little reluctant, lol! By now, it's dark and everyone is gathered under the pole barn with the beautiful lights hanging from above, the tables decorated so elegantly for the Valentine's Day theme and live music playing.
The smell of the amazing food was taking over the crowd. They were ready to eat!!! World of Beer provided an amazing dinner with Chicken, Steak, Mac & Cheese, salad and more. Our favorite are the HUGE Pretzels and dipping sauces, just to die for. To add to the amazing event, there was a tent set up with a Chocolate Fountain, definitely a special touch for the ladies for Valentine's Day!!! There was everything from pretzels to oreos, there were even rice crispy treats that we could dip in chocolate. Everything was absolutely divine! Most of us went back for seconds!!
About this time our live auctioneer got the crowd going to get the bidding started for the once in a lifetime experiences. He's quite the crowd pleaser and really gets people excited and ready to WIN!!!!
This was a wonderful evening, spent with wonderful people all working towards one thing.....a CURE! And we always make sure to have a ton of fun while doing it!!! Thanks for another unforgettable event and evening. A special thanks to Tampa Bay Sporting Clays and Mike Mezrah for hosting, to World of Beer for the amazing food, Herman and Tanya for the wine & spirits, to all who donated items for the raffle/auction and to all the volunteers who donate their time to make this evening a success!! And of course, the FARA staff for always giving us hope and keep pushing all of us parents to fight and believe that we are just a few steps away from the cure. For that we are so grateful!!