The Fargo
Fargo Legionnaire
Fargo, North Dakota
March - April  2005

Commander's Message
Wayne Wermager

Membership is the lifeblood of The American Legion and Post #2. We have done a good job renewing and recruiting members. However, there is more to do in the remaining days of the 2005 campaign. If you have not renewed your membership for 2005, you are respectfully encouraged do so. Our post, club, and programs rely on your membership and participation for success.

On January 26, 2005 Post #2 welcomed American Legion National Commander Thomas Cadmus to Fargo for a breakfast in his honor. Twenty-three Legionnaires and Auxiliary members attended. Commander Cadmus shared information about national issues important to Legionnaires and veterans in general. American Legion membership and funding for veteran’s benefits top the commander’s work agenda.

In an effort to bolster our club, entertainment, banquet, and rental space business, Post #2 is negotiating with a management company lead by Mr. Dick Dunkirk. The Dunkirk family has been synonymous with the music, entertainment, and bar operations business for four decades. Dick once owned and operated the successful Lamplite Lounge in Moorhead and the Gaslite Lounge in Fargo. He is a new Post #2 Legionnaire and will use his experience to grow our club and event center business. Watch and listen for advertisements about upcoming entertainment and events at the American Legion. A busy post and club, along with our ongoing capital campaign for building improvement, will better serve Legionnaires, all veterans, our many programs, and the FM community for years to come.

Auxiliary President's Message
LaVonne Matthews

Greetings!

Spring is just around the corner – finally – and we have some fun things planned in the next few months. Welcome back to the snowbirds! We hope to see you at the meetings soon!

Our March meeting is going to be a bit different. We are planning a “sewing bee” and will be making neck coolers to send overseas. Postcards will be sent out with more information. I hope it will be an evening of fun and friendship. We’ll even have a movie or two for the kids, so I hope you pencil that evening in.

The Spring District Meeting will be Monday, April 4th at Casselton.

The annual style show is scheduled for April 16th. Barb Nash will be planning a fun afternoon. She will be looking for models of all ages, male and female, so please let us know if you wish to participate. Also, if you want to help with the style show, Barb would appreciate any and all help she can get.

Please send in your volunteer hours so we can report them to the State chairman. These hours are totaled up with the rest of the units in the State and sent to National. They are used to show Congress how much personal time we contribute to the programs of the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary, so that hour or so you think doesn’t matter, really does.

We got good news at the mid-winter conference. North Dakota is ranked 5th in the Nation for renewals. Please send in your renewal if you have not done so already. Our unit is close to keeping on track with the goals they set for us, but we always appreciate getting the renewals in early so we can concentrate on getting new members. I hope some don’t think this is just another cost of membership dues for another cause. Please remember what our “cause” is and how this cause came to be. We now have a new generation going through what our husbands, fathers, and grandfathers went through. Our older veterans need our help more than ever and our new veterans need our experience and support. They need to know there is a group here that can help them through rough times if they have them, or even just someone to talk with that has “been there, done that”. So, please renew your membership if you haven’t already, and sign up that wife, mother, or granddaughter who is eligible for our great organization.

Calendar of Events for March and April 2005

• February 28th – Board Meeting 7 p.m.
• March 1st – Past President’s Parley
• March 8th – Sewing Bee – 7 p.m.
• April 4th – Spring District Meeting – Casselton
• April 5th – Past Presidents Parley
• April 12th – Regular Meeting – 7:30 p.m.
• April 16th – Style Show – Fargo Legion – 1 p.m.

LaVonne Matthews
President, Unit #2

Message from the Chef de Gare

Hello Forty & Eighters:

Hope you had Happy Holidays! Now it is time to get down to the problems at hand. We need more people who would like to become a 40/8 member. How do you become one? Just ask an American Legionnaire who is a member. How do you find one who is such? We have our meetings on the 4th Tuesday of the month starting at 7 o’clock in the Legion Hall upstairs. Also we serve spaghetti on Monday nights. The dues are reasonable, only eighteen dollars a year.

Our Sweetheart Banquet is this month on the 26th of February. Happy Hour is at 6 pm and the dinner is at 7 pm.

The Tri-State Convention dates are April 29, 30 and May 1st at Pipestone, Minnesota. This should be a fun trip. Wives and girlfriends are welcome.

March and April are interesting months. A lot of things are happening at your Post and Club. Keep posted of all the events by checking your bi-monthly bulletin.

Thank you for your support,

Don Schwinden
Chef de Gare

Club News

Greetings Fellow Legionnaires!

I am very excited about my new position as Lounge Manager with the American Legion Post # 2. I remember coming to the Legion club in the sixties and seventies when it was an exciting place: great music, great fun, and great friends! With your support I’d like to bring the club back to those days!

My dear late brother Ward Dunkirk and I operated two of the most successful night clubs in the history of Fargo-Moorhead. We believed that if you have great entertainment and great service, people will come again and again.

That’s what I am brining to you in the months to come. We have hired a great new bar manager with 25 years experience. The lower level of the building has been renamed “Legends Lounge and Casino” to honor the great entertainers whose pictures we are now displaying and music the bands will be playing for your listening and dancing pleasure.

We will feature the best bands in the area on Friday and Saturday. We are also excited to bring you something that is coming back in a big way all over the country, PIANO BAR! You can listen and enjoy or sing along or sing solo with the piano! It’s a lot of fun and now you can enjoy it Tuesday through Friday 5:30 - 7:30 and Tuesday through Friday 8 – 10. Our Piano Man performed on cruise ships for years and is one of the best you’ll ever see!

We are also going to bring in “Branson Style” music and comedy dinner theatre upstairs in the ballroom. NORTHWIND CROSSING a fabulous Irish Celtic Music Show complete with dancers Friday March 11 and Sunday March 13 and the Hilarious WOODTICK Theatre Music and Comedy Show form Ackeley, MN will be here April 15-16. We are in the planning stages of doing plays and musicals in the months to come so as my father Jack Dunn and mother Mary Lou from WDAY used to say, “Stay Tuned!” Stop down at the club to find out more about it!

I am looking forward to seeing you!

-Dick Dunkirk

2005 New Members and Transfers

The American Legion Gilbert C. Grafton Post No.2 would like to welcome the following new members and transfers to our post. 

Founders Club -------->

Thank you to all of the following Founders Club members for your generous donations of $1,000.00 each:

Correction: In the January/February 2005 newsletter Harry Moore was omitted as a member of the Founders Club for the Capital Campaign.

Alex MacDonald
Keith Kerbaugh
Joe and Carol Parmer
Leigh and Francis Scott
Spencer W. Jones
John Jensen
Oscar and Grace Nelson
Howard M. Thon
Fred B. Scheel (Scheels All Sports)
Harry Moore
Ralph Hoff
Goldmark Property Management

Congratulations to David Rice

Dave Rice received the LEGIONNAIRE OF THE YEAR AWARD for the state of North Dakota. Thank you Dave for all your time and effort you have put into the Legion and Congratulations on a much deserved award.

Have Your Wedding, Anniversary or Any Party Here

The American Legion has rental space available for a wide variety of events at a very reasonable price. 
To Schedule an Event please Contact Sabrina at 701-237-4013.  Click here for additional information. 

Attention: In accordance with North Dakota Charitable Gaming Regulations, American Legion Club notifies its membership that the organization's cash profit; cash long or short; net proceeds expenses, if any; reimbursement of excess expenses, if applicable; and a list of eligible use contributions is available for review. The information is available at the American Legion Club, 505 3rd Ave N,. Fargo, 8am - 4:30pm, Mon.-Fri. (701)237-4013