Last Saturday my husband and I took part in an event that, in just four short years, has become one of the most anticipated charitable events of the summer season. The Southern Oregon Classic is a sister nonprofit event to ones held in Las Vegas and Bend, Oregon, and each year it selects two or three local beneficiaries which receive 100 percent of the net proceeds. This year both local charities provide vital support to children: our medical center’s neonatal intensive care unit (part of the Children’s Miracle Network), and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), volunteers appointed by a judge to be an independent advocate for a child in the foster system. Our family has ties to these two entities, as our younger daughter is a NICU nurse at the children’s hospital in Portland, and our older daughter has entered the process to become a CASA here in our county.

Each year the Centennial Golf Club, named one of the Top 50 Golf Courses in the United States by Golf World, has hosted the event, which includes a double shotgun golf tournament, a VIP night for sponsors and tournament participants and “The Feast.” This year The Feast allowed guests to sample pours from 12 wineries, specialty cocktails, and beers from local brewery Walkabout Brewing Company. The stars are the 14 participating restaurants whose chefs concoct delicious small bites, from savory to sweet, to satisfy the appetites of the more than 1,200 guests who descend upon the booths circling the event lawn. Live music from the stage and a dance floor provide entertainment, and further funds are raised through a silent auction.

We noted two changes to past events and found both to be definite improvements. This year as guests arrived, they were given a wristband with five drink tabs. Each tab got you a glass of beer or a cocktail. (Wine pours from the wineries were not included in the count; most pours were about an ounce.) Once your five tabs were used up, you could visit the Security booth for an additional two tabs if staff determined you should get them. Even though it was a very warm evening, we found the quota to be sufficient (along with lots of water!) and made us comfortable knowing no one would be imbibing to excess.

The silent auction always offers vacation packages, tickets to sporting events, rounds of golf, restaurant gift certificates and special wine lots. The past three years we’ve donated some fine, unique wines from our collection, and it’s always fun to see the interest in the wine and who bids on it. This year the whole experience was upgraded with the use of a mobile app which allowed us to place bids; check on them and raise them throughout the evening, as necessary (this could be done automatically by setting a top bid limit and bid increments); and pay via a registered credit card. Instead of having to periodically check on individual bids at the tables — scrumming with other bidders in a hot tent — we could continue to eat, drink and visit with our friends and check in on our phones with ease. Ahh, the wonders of technology!

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening benefiting two worthy causes, with the added bonus that we secured the winning bid on two tickets to another big event later this summer, the Oregon Wine Experience. You gotta love summer!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor