Beneath the Streets awards quadrunner in fundraiser raffle

Just in time for the holidays, Kristi Peterson has won the 2019 Can-Am Outlander quadrunner raffle fundraiser to help raise funds to repair Havre Beneath the Streets.

"It's such an important part of Havre, I'm so happy to support it," Peterson said.

Peterson said that a co-worker at Independence Bank, Kevin Holmes, was selling tickets earlier this year and she decided to purchase four tickets from him. She said that she knew it was to raise money for Beneath the Streets to repair the damage to the exhibits and wanted to help. She has been to other underground exhibits, such as one in Seattle, but Havre Beneath the Streets is something special and is really nice to have in the community, she said.

Peterson added that she also really wanted to win the quadrunner because she wanted to give it as a gift to her parents, Jim and Dolores Shettel, who ranch in Phillips County. She said that her parents are hard-working ranchers and are "too seasoned to be out in the cold." Her parents can trade in the quadrunner and get a side-by-side.

She said she had missed the tree lighting Saturday, where Santa drew the winning ticket, and when she heard from friends and family that she had won, she was at a friend's birthday party.

She and her entire family is are excited about the quadrunner, she said.

"We were very excited, it was like the perfect Christmas surprise," she said. "... It's not very often you win something like this."

Her son was a little disappointed that he would not be able to ride the quadrunner, but likes the idea of giving it to his grandparents for Christmas, Peterson said.

"This is just so special," she said.

The quadrunner was donated in part by Red's Auto-Electric, with the raffle starting in June of this year, during the Living History Day event. The raffle had been pushed back a number of times to allow more tickets to be sold to maximize the effectiveness of the fundraiser.

Beneath the Streets is raising funds to make repairs to the sidewalk in front of the Eagles Club, which has leaks which flooded into the Beneath the Streets mercantile, dentists office, post office and the auto shop rooms. The leaks were found at the beginning of this year and forced Beneath the Streets to close the exhibits. A few artifacts had already been damaged and are in need of repair. These are the most expensive repairs they have had since first creating the Beneath the Streets exhibits in the 1990s.

The organization hoped to raise enough funds to apply for a tourism grant, which is a two-to-one match grant, but were unable to raise enough funds in time to apply this year.

Robert Floren, owner of Hill County Printing and one of the organizers for the raffle fundraiser, said that the organization will have to wait until next year to apply for the grant. He said some things may change in the application but they will not find out until the grant applications become available in the spring.

Havre Beneath the Streets Office Manager Christy Owens said that in addition to raising funds for the grant they also have to show they are shovel-ready.

Beneath the Streets Board of Directors member Margie Deppmeier added that the raffle fundraiser was able to raise about $5,000, although a final count has not been made yet.

"We still have a long way to go," she said, adding, "It was a nice fundraiser for us," she added.

Floren, who came up wih the idea for the raffle and printed the tickets for it, said he was pleased with the amount of support people showed for Beneath the Streets.

"A lot of participation from community people - they were just great with it, and we even had some out-of-state and Canadian people contribute to it when they were going through tours," he said.