We all know it’s January, but you might want to get your golf clubs out of storage and start warming up your swing. Why? Because the first weekend in February will mark the ninth year of White Bear Lake’s Bear’ly Open, a charity golf event—on the ice.
Creator Ken Galloway, a financial advisor, got the idea in 2007, while doing some strategic planning with the White Bear Lake Rotary. “We were challenged to create an event that would be charitable but also a community event,” he recalls. He had experienced similar events in Wayzata and Minnetonka, so he proposed the idea to the Rotary and city.
The charity the event serves is the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf, and to date the event has raised about $96,000. “My feelings at the time were, and still are, if you want to do something to help people, I can’t think of anything better than to ease suffering for children,” Galloway says. “If you can keep kids from being hungry, you can accomplish a lot.”
The event itself, given the time of year, takes quite a bit of prep work. “We actually create a golf course on the lake—an 18-hole course,” Galloway says. They plow the snow to create fairways and greens, drill holes in the ice for the hole cups, and take recycled Christmas trees and “plant” them throughout the course. And on the day-of, “we give everyone a tennis ball.”
“Some people use golf clubs; others use hockey sticks,” he says. Sponsors set up games along the way, and “it’s kind of a carnival of sorts. … People have a great time.”
Galloway works on the event pretty much all year, coming up with new ideas, but most of his work is done from early October to early March. The event committee, however, works from October up to the event in February. Tasks include sending letters and finding sponsors and volunteers. Some of the regular sponsors include the Rotary, Lexus of Maplewood, Autoglass Express, Ramsey and Associates, White Bear Country Inn and Carlson Clinics. In addition to the volunteer event committee, they’ll have 20 to 25 additional volunteers on the ice the day of the event.
All of these people make the event possible and help support the food shelf. “The donation [from the event] directly helps by covering the cost of food, outreach services and the upkeep of our beautiful facility,” says Andrea Kish-Bailey, executive director of the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf. “Each $1 donated to the food shelf purchases $8 of food through our partnerships with the local food banks,” she says, mentioning The Food Group and Second Harvest Heartland.
And the food shelf is grateful for Galloway’s commitment. “His work with the Rotary on the Bear’ly Open has created awareness of the needs surrounding poverty in the suburbs, and the need for the food shelf,” Kish-Bailey says.
It’s clear the awareness is spreading, as the event now brings in around 220 to 230 golfers every year. “The more we can get the word out, the better,” Galloway says. That goes for the community dance that takes place the night before the golf event. “We have a silent auction and take donations. And we have a live rock ’n’ roll band,” he says.
Galloway enjoys putting on the event because of the final goal: working to end hunger and suffering for kids. “We have an awesome group that works on this thing, and after eight years, we’ve actually created an event that’s branded with the community,” he says.
The event is about fun and fundraising. “You don’t need to know how to golf; it’s just a fun winter activity.”
Community Dance
DATE: February 5
TIME: 8 p.m.
WHERE: White Bear Country Inn
Bear’ly Open
DATE: February 6
TIME: Noon
WHERE: Ramsey Beach
