Alliance changes direction with new event at the Lincoln Balloon Festival
Donkey Race fundraiser for LCHS replaced with Dunk Tank

[August 19, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Monday, August 10, 2015 the Logan County Alliance, on behalf of the Lincoln Balloon Festival, announced a new attraction they had secured to take place at the Lincoln Balloon Festival on August 29th from 2pm to 4pm. This attraction was the local celebrity donkey race. The donkey race was added for two reasons.

The first was to have a fun and engaging activity that would bring out more of the local crowd to the airport during the day in a way that had not been done before, and the second reason for the new attraction was the help LCHS school groups with their fundraising efforts while securing some needed volunteers to help execute the event. As school funding continues to decline year after year, fundraising efforts for these high school groups becomes vital to their existence. As more and more groups do more and more fundraising each year, each group struggles with their efforts. So a new creative event like the donkey races is an alternative to these youth trying to sell stuff.

“It became very clear that a number of folks on Facebook objected to an event such as the donkey race through their feedback on the social media site. Because the Alliance respects the community members’ opinions, and we need the support of the community to have an event like donkey races or any other fundraiser, we met with staff, board and Balloon Festival Steering Committee members to discuss potential alternatives for the donkey races.”, said Andi Hake, President and CEO of the Logan County Alliance. Hake continued with “We have a responsibility to our community. In addition, we have a fiduciary responsibility to the Logan County Alliance organization and our members. We are in a binding contract with the group that owns the donkeys, and therefore we are still obligated to pay the nearly $4,000 even if we cancel. That amount of money is not insignificant to us.”

After much deliberation the Alliance has decided to cancel the Celebrity Donkey Race and hold, instead, a Celebrity Dunk Tank activity. The board, staff and Balloon Festival Steering Committee felt that this fun and creative activity will still engage the local celebrities and the community at large. The dunk tank hours will be Friday, August 28, 2015 from 4:30pm to 8:00pm, and again on Saturday, August 29, 2015 from 11:30am to 8:00pm at the Logan County Airport. Those wishing to dunk their favorite (or least favorite) local celebrity, while supporting some of our local youth programs can come out give it a try. It will be $5 for three tries.

“We have already secured some brave individuals to sit in the line of fire.” said Cara Barr, Logan County Alliance Events Coordinator. Logan County celebrities will be taking turns in the Balloon Festival Dunk tank one person will rotate every 30 minutes as members of the community and guests of the festival all take turns testing their throwing skills.

“Here are just a few Logan County Celebrities we have lined up: Matt Xamis - Jim Xamis Ford Lincoln, Cassy Good - Lincoln Courier, Shawn Taylor - Logan Lanes, Maggie McMurtrey - Logan County Tourism Director, Seth Goodman – ME Realty, Michelle Bauer – Country Financial and Lincoln Alderman, Sal Pollice – Edward Jones and The Logan County Alliance Board of Directors. We need many, many more to fill all the open spots. I encourage everyone to join us at the Logan County Airport for some good clean fun.” said Barr.

“We have listened to our community. Now we ask them to come out in large numbers and support us as we do our very best to make the Dunk Tank and the entire Lincoln Balloon Festival a success,” said Hake.

The Lincoln Balloon Festival is still in need of sponsors and “Dunkies” to make the Celebrity Dunk Tank event a success. Individuals wishing to support this new event can sponsor someone to be dunked, or just volunteer to be dunked.

For more information about the Lincoln Balloon Festival and Celebrity Dunk Tank activity, check out the Logan County Alliance’s website (www.lincolnballoonfest.com) which will give more celebrity schedule details as they are announced and secured. Individuals wishing to sponsor or be a “Dunkie” can call the Logan County Alliance Office at [phone].

[Andi Hake, Logan County Alliance]