BY MEIRA BIENSTOCKTHE BETHEL CITIZEN
BETHEL — When Noah Tanguay-Collins describes the charity golf event for River Fund Maine, an image of The Great Gatsby’s raving parties on summer evenings comes to mind. Kicking off the charity event with Par 3 Party, Tanguay-Collins says, “It plays super fast, it’s not competitive, basically it’s an hour and a half of golf, followed by a lot of party, which is live entertainment, games, raffles, food, drinks, the whole nine-yards.”
The game is designed for both golfers and non-golfers. Par 3 meaning the team should be able to get from the Tee-box to the hole in three plays. In addition, they move the Tee-boxes up to make it even easier. There are four people on a team, and it’s best ball, with one player going, then everyone else Tees-off the best ball until it holes out.
However, the objective isn’t to just play golf, according to Tanguay-Collins.
“We took it one step further and we said even if people do not feel comfortable golfing at all, even with this paired down version of it, we should offer a dinner only option,” says Tanguay-Collins. “We get a good amount of people who show up just for the party, so they’ll buy a ticket and it’ll just be for cocktail hour and they’ll participate in the raffle for live entertainment and then they’ll have dinner from there.”
That evening’s entertainment was Brad Hooper, an musician who played for cocktail hour and through dinner. When everyone checked in that evening, the first thing they received is a drink, a John Daily, to be specific. The decorations were festive, with the table set with miniature golf carts and kinetic sand. Tanguay-Collins had put the kinetic sand together so it looked like a sand trap by the greens and with his teammates put a golf ball and a golf cart as if it’s going into the sand trap.
Some teams coordinate through fashion, either by the color of their clothes, their shirts matching, everyone wearing Hawaiian shirts, and one family even wore inflatable ducks around their waists.
“At the end of the dinner the last two awards we give out at the end of night are the Most Strokes Folks, which is basically last place, because if you had fun you won, right?” Tanguay-Collins laughs. “Then the far-away fashion, that’s the team coordinated outfits. So we have an applause-o-meter and we pick a judge and we’re like whose the winner of this, and it ended up being the Gray family.”
Not only was the event fun, but it raised a significant amount of money for The River Fund Maine. That money will go toward scholarships for students, workshops, and new programs. Money was raised through contests, raffles, and tickets; as well as sponsorship support.
“When people come and check in, and for those who have never participated, and they see all the hats and glasses and things they can put on, and other people are dressed up, it’s fun to watch them observe it for the first time because, oh my gosh, this is not a golf event! It was a really great night,” laughs Tanguay-Collins.