Barnwell School’s annual Cake Auction fundraiser tonight

Submitted by Aaron Edlund

On Thursday, January 30 Barnwell School is hosting their 17th annual Cake Auction Night and we expect the events total to surpass a quarter of a million dollars in its overall existence.

What started as a fundraiser night for our athletic program at the school, has morphed into the highlight of our school year. Proceeds from the first Cake Auction went towards new uniforms for the school teams, but due to the generosity of the community, all areas of the school (academics, arts, and athletics) have benefited. This year we have eyes on a new video board/scoreboard in the gym as well as working towards a new track for our track and field program.

If you aren’t familiar with the night, it is run in conjunction with our girls and boys basketball teams. The girls play at 5 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m. and at half time of the games, and in between games, we auction off some pretty incredible cakes that have been baked or donated by locals, with some of those cakes selling for almost $3000 each. The whole night is quite the spectacle. The gym is packed, which is a unique treat for junior high athletes as often league games are played before even mom and dad can get off of work. Non-basketball fans are entertained by the cakes themselves and the bidding that goes on.

This year’s opponent will be the girls and boys teams from Immanuel Christian School in Lethbridge. Their teams have established themselves as one of the premier 2A programs in the province of Alberta at the high school level. The games should be good as our boys are having a great season. In most years the bleachers slowly fill up during the girls game and are standing room only by the time the boys tip off. I would suggest anyone coming this year to show up early, not to get a seat necessarily, but to watch 9th grader Kaia Anderson play basketball. We have been blessed with some amazing basketball players at our school, but Anderson just might be the best yet. Her ability to shoot the basketball is unmatched by any other junior high girl in all of Southern Alberta, if not the entire province. But that’s not even the best part. Anderson makes everyone around her better with her pinpoint passing and her ball handling.