Berkshire Baseball March Newsletter

Food was served at 6:30 p.m. and consisted of a wide array of beef products, and other various meats and cheeses. Large vegetable trays were in abundance and the smell of beef and beer inundated the banquet hall. Moonlight Graham played cover songs ranging from the Allman Brothers Melissa to Jimi Hendrix's Hey Joe, and threw in a few Beatles songs in between. After the bands first set concluded, more people congregated to the food and beer lines for second rounds of each.

After a brief break, the drummer Mark DeLucia and keyboardist Jerry Werner Sr. were accompanied on stage by Donnie Clouser and Christopher Holland, both whom played guitar. There was no structure or discussion as to what was going to be improvised, rather than deciding to play in A minor, the relative minor to C major. Throwing lead riffs back and forth and the keyboardist throwing in a solo of his own amounted to a six-minute jam that was upbeat with a grungy jam band style. The guests accompanied the drummer and keyboardist for one more song, deciding this time to play in E minor, the relative minor to G major. Again, there was no real sense of direction but the talent within each musician spoke more than words, and the rhythms came naturally. Moonlight Graham retook the stage after allotting its guests a 15-minute jam session, and more classic rocks tunes echoed through the air as each musician crooned lyrics to different songs.

The silent auction and Chinese auction concluded at 8:30 p.m. during last call for a chance to participate in the 50-50 raffle, and people jumped on the opportunity to gobble up more tickets in hope of winning the $199 jackpot. The band took another break as Berkshire President Dan Clouser announced the winners of each auction and selected the winning ticket for the 50-50 raffle. After the announcements the band took the stage again to play two more songs before the intern auction began.

Since Berkshire started hosting its annual Beef and Beer fundraiser, it has also been hosting a "slave" auction as another way to generate money for the organization. People bid on the interns and whoever they win is required to do four hours of manual labor at his or her request. This is the first year that Berkshire Baseball has four interns, so the hopes of gaining a decent dollar from the attendees were high. The first intern auctioned was Steven Gerber, a Marketing Major at Kutztown University, who sold for $40. The second was Tom Ferhart, a Management major at Kutztown, who sold for $30. The third intern was Christopher Holland, a Professional Writing major at Kutztown, who also sold for $30. The last intern auctioned was Jenning Foran, a Sports and Leisure Studies major at Kutztown, who tied Gerber at $40. But interns weren't the only people auctioned off. Selling at the highest bid of $95, Randy Strausser and Jerry Friewald sold together and were bought by Jerry's wife, Barb Friewald. The job responsibilities the auctioned people have to perform is entirely up to the winning bidder, to be determined at a later date.

Following the "slave" auction was more beer drinking and dancing to the music. People started slowly leaving as the night neared 10:00 p.m. and the interns began cleaning up the buffet in order to make it home by a reasonable hour. The fire company staff helped clean the majority and the band was nearly packed up by the time everyone had dissipated.

Although, the number of people in attendance was down nearly twenty percent in comparison to last year, the amount of income at this year's fundraiser was higher, in return making it a financial success for Berkshire Baseball. The organization thanks all of those you came out and supported Berkshire Baseball and we look forward to seeing you at our future events and baseball games.