A recent event saw a whole lot of money heading to Midale's Harry O Memorial Arena, with the annual MORE 200 event taking place over the weekend. That event, which stands for Midale Organization for Recreational Expansion, hosted a number of auctions and other events with the hopes of keeping the rink running.
Chelsea Toles, chairperson for MORE 2000, says it was a special year for the group.
"It was our 30th year anniversary this year, and we had our standard auction. We had about 350 people in attendance. The layout of the auction is typically a Dutch, a live, and a silent auction."
For the 30th anniversary, the event also featured a special game called It's Goat Time, with a goat auctioned off at a random part of the night. People were then able to gift that goat to someone else in the building, with the game ultimately raising $12,000.
Toles says the community had a great time, with the final total being impressive.
"The whole community had a ton of laughs. There was a good banter going on all night. After expenses, we ended up making around $127,000."
Besides helping to keep the building running over the year, Toles says they've got some projects to work on that should help the community.
"We also have some upcoming projects that we'll be utilizing it for this spring. For example, the building has a plumbing line that has burst. We found out at the end of this year. We will start digging for this spring to get fixed, which should be quoted as a $15,000 to $20,000 project on its own."
Toles feels that the event had an awesome turnout with a great group of people who've consistently shown up for the event.
That's why they're already planning for the 31st annual event, which was announced as taking place April 11th, 2026.
Toles thanked everyone who supported the event and made sure the community could keep coming out to the Harry O Memorial Arena.