The Dueling Pianos show out of Edmonton featuring pianists Shane Young and Jenesse Graling performs on Nov. 17 at the Dodsland Lions Hall for a crowd of about 150 people.
Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
The well-known Dueling Pianos pianists used their talents in Dodsland to help raise money for an important community project.
A sold-out crowd of about 150 people enjoyed the Dueling Pianos show on Nov. 17 at the Dodsland Lions Hall. The show was presented by the Dodsland Lions Club and all proceeds from the event will support a playground project to replace equipment at the Lions Community Park.
Lions Club members and other volunteers helped to prepare the roast beef supper and work the bar for the event. The playground equipment at the park has been in place since the 1960s and the community is working to replace it with a new jungle gym, swing set, slide and new sand, among other landscaping upgrades.
Ryan Neumeier, the club’s president, served as master of ceremonies for the event. The first order of business was to auction off the VIP table on the stage at the hall. Shane Kruesel, a club member and past president, helped with the auction.
[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see the Nov. 24 print edition of The Cross Roads.’]
The VIP table was auctioned for $600 to Randy Neumeier. Guests at the VIP table were the first to eat and they received two bottles of champagne. The table also had two of its own servers for the evening. The event also included a silent auction and a photo booth.
Several attendees were dressed up to match the 1920s theme. Members of the North West Central School Wildcats football team helped to bus tables. The program started once all of the tables were finished eating.
Special for the night, the bar served champagne and specialty spirits, including the Old Fashioned, Moscow Mule and Fizzy Flapper. Ryan encouraged people to bid often in the silent auction because all money is going to the project.
“We need to upgrade that playground,” he said. He noted it’s going to be an expensive project for the community because new playground equipment costs a great deal. “It’s an important part of a community, so any money spent tonight, that’s what it’s going towards.”
The master of ceremonies thanked all the volunteers, donors and sponsors for the event. He recognized the efforts of Deanne Joyce and Christine Kruesel, who spearheaded organizing the event, with help from their spouses.
Two pianos were set up in the middle of the hall with tables of people on both sides and a small area of floor space for people who wanted to dance.
The Dueling Pianos show has an interesting concept because the performers are not dueling.
Shane Young and Jenesse Graling were the two talented performers in the act based out of Edmonton. The act has performed in a lot of places, including Las Vegas. The performers do not use a set list because all of the songs are requested by the audience.
It’s the people in the audience who duel to have their songs played by filling out requests on a piece of paper and placing money on the pianos with their requests to get them played. The concept makes for a fun show.
If a person puts $40 on the piano to play a song, another person could put $41 on the piano to stop the song with or without a specific request. For example, a person placed $100 on a piano to play Dancing Queen by Abba, but someone else soon placed $102 on the piano to stop the song.
Young, one of the pianists, told the crowd all of the money they spend to play and stop songs stays in the community and it’s another way the show helps to raise money for the cause. The performers played two sets covering a range of music, including AC/DC.
Joyce, one of the main organizers, said after the show that a nearby community had the Dueling Pianos show in 2016, so she suggested bringing the show to Dodsland at a Lions Club meeting. She said that by March the only dates available for the popular show in 2017 were Nov. 11 and 17. The event went well, she said.
“It was a success,” Joyce said. The event sold out three days after the tickets first went on sale and she was impressed by the number of people who got dressed up for the occasion. “It just went off without a hitch.”
The final tally raised at the event was not available for publication. Joyce said the club supports the hall and recreational facilities in Dodsland, among other causes.
She wanted to thank all the businesses that donated to the fundraiser and the people who supported the event.
[/emember_protected]
