OREGON — The Ogle County Republican Party recently hosted their Annual “Draw Down” at The Rivers Edge Experience in Oregon, right before Easter weekend on Thursday, March 28, and it was a huge success. 

“We do two significant fundraisers a year,” Mike Koolidge, chairman of the Ogle County Republican Party, said. “The big Lowden Day Dinner in August, and the Draw Down every March. The Draw Down is the less formal, more fun one, and Thursday night was definitely a whole lot of fun.”

The event took in over $10,000 in ticket sales, half of which went directly to lucky ticket purchasers that night as raffle winners. The other half paid for costs, the proceeds of which will be used to help strengthen and grow the local Republican Party.

 As was expected, all 100 draw down tickets sold out well in advance of the event, which over the years has become an Ogle County tradition. The dinner included salad, beer nuggets, and pizza served family style from Alfano’s of Oregon, with Republican-themed cookies at each place setting.

Before the actual draw down, Koolidge gave a brief presentation going over the Ogle County Republican Party’s new “battle plan.” 

“Ogle County is a red county and hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president in any of our lifetimes, and to my knowledge, ever. We aim to keep it that way, but more importantly, we want to make sure our local government bodies continue to be populated by patriotic, fiscally-responsible, constitution-following elected officials. Additionally, Ogle County will play an integral part in the statewide effort to turn Illinois itself into a red state over the next decade — meaning winning statewide elections for Republicans — and we’re extremely excited to get that going.”

 The event concluded with what everyone came for: the big draw down. A large board was used to post progress as each of the ticket stubs were removed from a see-through rotating container. As each ticket was drawn from the container, the names of the ticket holders were read, and they were informed if either they had won a prize, or had just been eliminated. A “second chance” drawing was also held, with tickets sold on the spot, one of which was drawn and gave the lucky winner one draw down ticket (“ticket #100”), which was placed into the draw container when the event was down to the last 10 tickets. That lucky “second chance” winner, Terry from Lost Lake, happened to be the grand prize $2,000 winner.

The Republican Party, also known as the “Grand Ole Party” (G.O.P.) was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists in Ripon, Wisconsin. Illinois’ own Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican ever elected president of the United States, just six years later.

The Ogle County GOP’s website can be found at https://www.oglecountygop.org/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OgleCountyRepublicans.