Milk River Gobblers holding second annual banquet

The second annual Milk River Gobblers banquet is set for Saturday at the Havre Eagles Club starting at 5:30 p.m., with cocktails, followed by dinner at 6 p.m.

Silent and live auctions will be held, along with a variety of games and activities, and prizes will be awarded throughout the evening.

Prizes available are three firearms which includes a pistol, rifle and a shotgun and more items.

Bob Sivertsen of Havre will be the auctioneer during the evening.

Only 150 seats are available. The cost is $40 for dinner and $50 worth of general raffle tickets. 

A Hi-Roller Package is available for $150, which includes $300 in general raffle tickets, a Milk River Gobblers cap and three tickets entered into the Hi-Roller drawing. It does not include the meal.

“The Milk River Gobblers banquet is our second banquet on our own,”Milk River Gobblers member Jeff Dibblee said. “For many years, we were a member of the National Wild Turkey Federation. We broke away last year and formed our own small group, which turned out quite well, and we raised a lot of funds and those funds stay local.”

Money collected at this year’s banquet will go toward the annual Milk River Gobblers Scholarship Program which is for 2020 high school graduates in Liberty, Hill, Blaine and Phillips counties as well as supporting the annual Community Christmas Dinner that the Havre Eagles Club hosts.

He said that at this year’s banquet, they will have a special rifle drawing for the remembrance of former Milk River Gobblers member and resident of Havre Scott Young, who died last year.

“The recipient of that drawing will have their name on a plaque as well as receiving the rifle,” he said. “That plaque will be displayed at a to-be-determined location.”

He added that, as of Tuesday, Jan. 14, the group had 13 guns and 15 knives and toys from the collection of outdoorsman Bob Markquart, who died last year, for the auctions.

He said the group goes from as far as Chester to Malta down to Big Sandy to reach out to people and support all the local businesses.

For more information people can contact Dibblee at 945-1632 or Lance Johnson at 390-1542.

Dibblee said he is looking forward to meeting people at the event as well as “getting their ideas on how they feel about the turkeys, how they feel about the turkeys being around here and how do they feel about the club, if we are doing a good job and what they would like to see.”

“I’ve got a pet goal on bringing white eastern turkeys. They are a bigger turkey, they are up to 30 pounds and will survive our area,” he added.