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• Casino Night proceeds benefit scholarships for graduating seniors
The Town of Alpine’s annual Winter Jubilee is happening this weekend. Families are invited to various activities throughout the two-day event, and proceeds from the culminating activity, Casino Night, go towards scholarships for 2025 Star Valley High School graduating seniors.
Serving as a scholarship fundraiser for over ten years, the Winter Jubilee allows the Town of Alpine to offer scholarships to SVHS graduating seniors who live in the northern end of Star Valley, specifically Alpine, Etna and properties between the two communities.
The Jubilee kicks off Friday evening at 5 p.m. with a Hot Dog Roast at the civic center gazebo. The traditional light parade follows at 6:30, and then fire dancers from Lava Hot Springs will directly follow the light parade. Folks can enjoy the family movie, “Wild Robot” in the Donn Wooden Civic Center that evening at 8:15. Sponsors for the hot dog roast are Sierra Booth with Farm Bureau and Jackie Ruth with Alpine Standard Chevron.
Saturday’s activities begin at noon with a sledding party at the American Legion Ball Field, where youth can enjoy winter games and a smores bar with a freshly groomed cross country ski trail for adults.
“Alpine Trails and Pathways is going to go down and groom the sledding hill and they’re also going to groom a cross country ski trail between the ball field and Melvins,” said Alpine Town Councilwoman Andrea Burchard on a recent interview with the SVI Radio Network. “So, while your kids are playing, you can go for a quick cross country ski.”
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday evening for the Casino Night, which is the capstone activity for the entire Winter Jubilee. Food and alcohol will be available for purchase. Everyone 21 and older is invited to participate. The cost is $40 to purchase a bag of chips, which also contains 50 raffle tickets. Casino games such as Blackjack, Roulette and Poker are open to participants. Raffle items have been donated from local businesses and individuals. Guests can place their tickets in the jar associated with each raffle item.
“The capstone of the whole thing is the Casino Night,” said Burchard. “It’s a very fun event and is usually very well attended. The grand raffle prizes include a giant change jar, donated by a community member, with the value estimated to be $1,500. Then, we also have Top of the Rockies and Jenkins Lumber together donating a Traeger Woodridge Smoker, which is a brand new product from Traeger.”
Preregistration for any of the events is not necessary. “Just show up,” said Burchard. The event committee is also seeking dealers for Casino Night, so any individuals interested in supporting the event with card skill, please reach out to the Town of Alpine.
“I’d like to give a little shout out to Wyoming Title and Escrow.” The business sponsored Bingo Night a few weeks ago, and has already raised $800 toward the scholarship fund. “So, we’ve got a really good head start.”
In addition to the community activities, the Star Valley Arts Council has organized a snow sculpture contest as part of the Jubilee. Sculptors are working throughout this week on blocks of snow that are smaller than at past Jubilee event. The pieces will be finished by the Friday, and on display on the civic center lawn.
“We’ve rounded up some really great artists and we’re probably going to have six to eight sculptures,” said SVAC Executive Director, Lxi Weber in an Radio Interview with SVI. “I’m really excited to see how they turn out because these artists are good at what they do. Folks will be able to get up close and personal and just really see the details. I think that will be fun for people.”
For a complete schedule of events for this weekend’s Alpine Winter Jubilee, visit SVIalpine.com.