Several tickets still available for HHS Alumni Banquet

More than 175 Holton High School alumni have expressed an interest in coming back to their alma mater for this coming Satur­day’s annual HHS Alumni Banquet — about as many as last year so far, but still promising, according to HHS Alumni Association Presi­dent Erin Ludvicek Carlson.

“Ticket sales are going well,” said Carlson, a 2001 graduate of HHS. “In addition to ticket sales, alumni-owned businesses have given more than $1,000 toward the event. I cannot say ‘thank you’ enough to all that have contrib­uted.”

Carlson and others involved with the Alumni Association have been looking for ways to recharge the annual banquet’s attendance num­bers, which she said have dwindled from more than 600 in the 1980s and 1990s to last year’s attendance of 175. As a result, she and others within the association have been seeking for suggestions to do ex­actly that.

This year, the Alumni Banquet will feature Chad Bontrager, cur­rently the deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture and a member of the HHS Class of 2000, as guest speaker. Other alumni will feature prominently in the evening’s program, as will current Holton superintendent Dennis Stones, who will provide updates on construction of the new elementary school, Carlson said.

Two groups of HHS alumni will feature in the evening’s musical entertainment, Carlson said. In ad­dition to 2010 graduate Leigha Sweet, who will open the evening with the national anthem, HHS teacher Karen Ford will also per­form as part of a flute quartet that features HHS graduates Carrie Dannenberg Kahle (class of 1994), Heather Braum (2001) and Kristin Babcock Weyrauch (2002) during the banquet.

Later, during an outdoor social for all HHS alumni at the Reichart Vineyard (formerly Campbell Win­ery) east of Holton, the Micah Halton band will perform. Three of the band’s four members — Brian Jones, of the class of 2000, and Mi­cah Halton and Caleb Kennedy, both of the class of 2001 — are HHS graduates, Carlson said.

“In recent years, there hasn't been any musical portion to the evening,” she noted.

The post-banquet social at the Reichart Vine­yard will be a “less formal” event with a beer garden, Carlson said. The event will be open to graduates age 21 and older. Alumni banquet at­tendees will be admitted to the event at no charge, while those who don’t will be asked for a $5 dona­tion, she added.

Parking will be available at the Jackson Farmers Co-op lot at the intersection of Kansas Highway 116 and V Road near the vineyard — just one of a handful of assists that HHS alumni are providing to keep alumni activities going, Carl­son said.

“One of the obstacles we initially faced was a shortage of parking at Reichart’s Vineyard,” she said. “Holton alum and Jackson Farmers manager Gary Amon provided us with a great example of calling on community members to help solve all the issues we encountered while trying to put this event together. It is wonderful to know so many alumni in the area that we can call and ask for assistance.”

Even this year’s graduating HHS seniors are getting into the attempts to keep the alumni banquet going, since — after their graduation this past Saturday — they, too, are now HHS alumni. Carlson said she met with this year’s senior class at the high school to tell them about, and invite them to, this year’s banquet.

Carlson also noted that this year’s Glory Days activity changes are being extended to the annual alumni parade, set for 11 a.m. that same day. This year, graduates of all Jackson County high schools past and present — whether it’s Holton, Royal Valley or Jackson Heights, or now-defunct schools in the county’s smaller towns — are being invited to participate in the parade.

“Anyone from a Jackson County school, and that includes Royal Valley and Jackson Heights and all the smaller schools that are no longer there, who’s having a class reunion is invited to participate,” Carlson said. “They can get their class­mates together, decorate a trailer or a pickup, or just walk as a group in the parade.”

Today is the final day for pur­chasing banquet tickets from Holton’s three banks; tickets are $25 per person, it was reported. After that, tickets will be available by calling Carlson at (785) 341-3152. For more information, e-mail Carlson at erincarl­son3@gmail.com or Kim Clark Mitchell at kimclark­mitchell@gmail.com