Paul Bickel, left, and Dave Caruso, right, entertained the 130 guest at the Dueling Against Cancer event Saturday, Sept. 11. The two men competed against each other on the piano, along with a trumpet and a piano harmonica, while they engaged the crowd to participate and help raise funds for the Cancer Care Fund of Kosciusko County. InkFreeNews photos by Deb Patterson.

By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

NORTH WEBSTER — There was laughter, clapping to the beat of music, snapping of fingers, waving arms and plenty of smiles and fun during the Dueling Against Cancer event Saturday evening, Sept. 11. The event was held at The Owl’s Nest, North Webster.

Approximately 130 people attended the high-energy dueling piano war between Paul Bickel and Dave Caruso. Not only did the pianist duel it out, so did the audience.

Vince Beasley gets into the music.

The music ranged from all eras and included a variety of creative ways to raise money for the Cancer Care Fund of Kosciusko County. There was the college “fight song” competition and a number of other competitions where the called upon competitors had to buy their way out of participating with a replacement, dance to the music with motions, or clang a cowbell as they went around the room to collect donations.

When the fun ended, the fun-filled competitions raised $2,084 which was matched by two generous individuals. In the college “fight song” competition $590 alone was raised with Purdue defeating Indiana University, Notre Dame and Michigan.

After an hour of fun and entertainment, the evening turned to the live auction where eight items were auctioned off in several fun bidding wars. The two items caught in the bidding war were the Happy Gilmore Putter, which sold for $2,500, and an autographed Bobby Knight basketball bought for $2,000.

Other items included a $500 jewelry gift card, an anchor table, his and her watches, a water pad, Adirondack chairs, two bourbon baskets, one including a stay at Oakwood Resort and the other including Warsaw cutglass. The auction raised approximately $7,985.

Jack Birch takes a look at the auction items.

When the evening ended the dueling piano competitions and live auction brought in close to $13,000.

Guests were also invited to make donations toward areas of the CCF fund such as rent, gas, mortgage and others.

There are still three more opportunities to donate to the CCF of Kosciusko County.

A glow golf fundraiser will be held Friday, Sept. 17, at Maxwelton Golf Club, Syracuse. The shotgun start is at 7:30 p.m. The evening will include a night of golf, live music and more fun.

The Power of Pink champagne brunch at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 10, at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club. This event will feature a designer purse auction. Reservations are needed by Oct. 1 and can be made by emailing [email protected], or through the cancercarefundkc.org website.

The final event is the Sixth Annual Freaky 5K race and kids run on Saturday, Oct. 30. This timed competitive race begins and ends at the K21 Health Pavilion, Warsaw. Registration takes place from 8-9 a.m. with the race beginning at 9:15 a.m. Participants are encouraged to sport their best costumes to get into the Halloween spirit.