Courtesy Photo
Auctioneer Mark Fanning talks to Kenzie, left, and Halle Bardsley, daughters of Tyson Bardsley, during the benefit in their dad’s honor Saturday in Wauneta.
Community, area rallies around Bardsley
Organizers sang the praises of Wauneta and the surrounding communities who gathered together Saturday for a benefit for Tyson Bardsley.
Bardsley suffered a stroke in late January and has been recuperating and rehabilitating in Colorado.
He is expected to be discharged from the rehabilitation unit of Poudre Valley Hospital on Friday.
Saturday’s benefit was epic, organizers Kirsten Boos and Crystal Walgren said, with a great crowd showing up for the evening.
It took a lot of people to make the night happen, they added, and the pair was grateful for the donors, bidders, helpers and fire and EMS departments that took part.
Bardsley has served as a Wauneta volunteer fireman for 15 years. Many area departments made donations to the event.
Firemen and mutual aid teams from across the area were there, as well as people from as far as South Dakota.
Wauneta firemen’s wives and Donna Werkele served walking tacos. Kip and Terry Engell and Dave and Kathy Kerchal volunteered as bartenders.
Comedian Sam Adams donated his time to the benefit. While he wasn’t able to make the trip to Wauneta from Colorado, with some help from Shane and Larissa Gerhartz, Adams performed via Zoom.
The auctions went phenomenally well, Walgren and Boos said.
“Everything sold well,” they agreed, in both the silent and live auctions. Without definite numbers available yet, Boos and Walgren thought a rifle and shotgun were the top sellers.
Serving as auctioneers for the night were Mark Fanning and Preston Smith.
Janel and Donnie Sharp took care of the online and absentee bidding for the event, plus handled some of the promotion.
Many items that said “Bardsley” were gifted back to the Bardsley family.
The event didn’t just support Bardsley. A picture by Bill Bardsley, Tyson’s dad, was auctioned off three times with the proceeds going to Imperial’s Leibhart family. Chase County sophomore Brock Leibhart continues to recover from a car accident in February.
“What a beautiful community to make this all possible,” Walgren said.