Boots and Bulls Social aims to boost arts programs

Prairie Fusion Arts and Entertainment executive director Timothy Brown outlines a shift to a more playful fundraising season, built around a western-themed social, a Nerf program, and a family-friendly Halloween night.

Fundraising focus

Brown says the Boots and Bulls Social is the centrepiece, complete with a mechanical bull, live band, games, and a dance floor. He adds that the goal is to welcome people who might not attend a formal gala, while raising essential dollars for programming and operations.

“It’s western themed. We’re going to have Mechanical Bull, we’re going to have a band, Almost Famous,” notes Brown.

“They kind of do all genres, so it’ll be they’ll be doing the country songs. But, you know, if they need to tell them to some classic rock, they’re they’re ready to go,” says Brown.

“We’re going to have games, a little shooting gallery with Nerf guns,” adds Brown.

“And yeah, just just kind of have a little dance floor. We might even be getting our line dancers to come in and do a bit of a show just to see what their confidence level is like,” continues Brown.

Why it matters

Brown says the social replaces a typical gala this year, helping keep the doors open and the season strong with community support.

“But yeah, it’s an event like this is incredibly important just because this is our big fundraising effort for the year,” notes Brown.

“Normally we do gala events. This year we want to do something a little more fun and bring in like community members that might not come to a typical gala,” says Brown.

“But it’s basically helps keep our doors open, helps our programming and yeah, it keeps us going for another season,” adds Brown.

“So it’s. The community is like our most important lifeline when it comes to our programming and performances and so hopefully with their help we’ll be able to have another great season,” continues Brown.

Halloween and Nerf programming

Brown says the Halloween event on October 31 provides a safe space for families and youth, with a costume contest, tactile activity stations, music, and room to run off energy in a supervised setting.

“This is really just trying to create a safe space for families and youth who might not have a place to go for Halloween,” notes Brown.

“Right now we’ve got a whole bunch of kids from youth upcoming and we expect to have a bunch of families and young people come through the doors,” says Brown.

“And so it’ll be Halloween costume contest. We’re going to have kind of little stations to feel the gross gooey things and yeah different games and music and just kind of a place where kids can you know run around and blow off some of that sugar energy and have fun in a safe space that parents won’t have to worry about cars or stranger danger or anything like that,” adds Brown.

Brown continues that Nerf tournaments tested well in summer and are now slated for professional development days and possibly the Christmas break, with rental options for birthdays and future summer camps.

“We had our very first Nerf tournament in the summer. It was very, very successful,” notes Brown.

“We even got one of your reporters involved in the event. Tyler, we got Tyler to join in on one of the rounds and I think he had more fun than almost everyone else,” says Brown.

“So we really like the concept of the Nerf tournament. And so we wanted to bring that back in a variety of different ways,” adds Brown.

“So we felt like the Western-themed social is kind of perfect for that feel,” continues Brown.

First-time mechanical bull

Brown says the mechanical bull is a Portage first, and he is already floating fun challenges to local teams.

“No, from what I’ve talked with people, it doesn’t sound like we’ve done a mechanical bull event here in Portage,” notes Brown.

“Everyone I’ve talked to about it, like whether they’re like ardent country fans or, you know, like pop fans or whatever, like there seems to be something, a universal attraction to the mechanical bull,” says Brown.

“And so everyone we talked to, like we’re bringing the mechanical bull and they’re like, oh my gosh, that’s amazing. I think, yeah, it’s going to go really well. I’m curious to see how it goes,” adds Brown.

“Trying to convince some of the Terrier players to come in and see how long they can last from the bowl,” continues Brown.

Dates: Halloween event October 31. Boots and Bulls Social November 22.