The Bear Facts
March 28, 2026


Good morning! I’m Ava Snider!
 

I’m Kayden Graves!

And I’m Tate Foertsch! This is the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Tonight’s the big night. It’s time for Gala 2026. For the past thirty-seven years Gala has been the biggest fundraiser for our area Catholic schools. Each year since the COVID pandemic we’ve brought in more than $400,000 from Gala, and we’re hoping for both fun and good revenue from this year’s event. This is the 37th year for the big Garrigan fundraiser, and this year’s theme is “Gala Gone Tropical”. Everything will be decked out with pink flamingos and tropical flowers. Doors open at 5:30, and the dinner and live auction will begin at 7:30 tonight.

For many guests, the biggest attraction of Gala is the food. It all begins with the appetizers, which this year include croque monsieur sandwich bites with tomato jam, habanero bacon jam tartlets with pineapple salsa, and chipotle beef tostadas with red onion marmalade. The actual meal includes sweet potato and bacon soup with crème fraiche and tropical poppyseed salad.


For their main dish guests can choose from grilled breast of chicken with mango salsa, accompanied by cilantro lime rice or tenderloin of beef with mango salsa, served with red jacket potatoes. Both dishes come with tri-color glazed carrots. Dessert is a flamingo passionfruit semifreddo gateau with crème anglaise and raspberry coulis. Throughout the night guests can enjoy wine, soft drinks, and a signature American lager from Titonka Brewing Company. It should all combine to make an elegant and delicious meal.

There’s lots of opportunities to have fun and spend money at Gala. The focus is always on the live auction, which features around seventy high-value items. Another big option is “Pick Your Passion”, where you can choose from 100 different options at all price points that help out different teachers in their classrooms. There are also fun games like “Heads or Tails” and the First Chance, Half Chance, and Chest of Chance drawings. Finally there’s the raffles, where winners can win a Chevy Equinox or Ford Maverick from Kemna’s and cash prizes of up to $8,000.

The success of Gala depends on guests, donors, and hundreds of people who help out behind the scenes. In addition to those we’ve already mentioned, major business sponsors include Northwest Bank, Iowa State Bank, Farmers State Bank, and Security State Bank, as well as Sportsman’s Corner, Schindler Lawn Care, Meyer Home Improvement, and Lichter Fine Art and Design. Individual sponsors donated both live and silent auction items, and other people help plan, decorate, serve, and clean-up after the event. Thanks to everyone who helps make Gala a huge success!


Last week the band and choir were in Florida on a music trip. The students who remained at Garrigan had a wide range of activities that were different from normal classes. One day they toured local businesses—including factories, banks, medical facilities, offices, and stores. They also had special mini-courses where they learned about widespread topics like sports betting, forensic science, and how to be a barista. It made a nice change from the usual routine.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Kollyn Wiemers. Here to tell you about him is Lucy Eisenbarth.

Kollyn Wiemers enjoys helping his parents on the family farm. At school his main activities are trapshooting and the criminal justice club. He’s also part of the E.C.E. career development program, he’s been on the school maintenance team, and he’s helped to maintain the student website. Kollyn likes hunting and fishing. He plans to go to college next year, and in the future he’d like to be a heavy equipment operator. We wish him all the best in the future.

Thank-you, Lucy! With Easter coming up we’ve got two weeks of events on our Golden Bear calendar. Tonight is Gala. There will be mass for workers at 4:00, doors open at 5:30, and the main event starts at 7pm.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Monday there’s a girls indoor track meet at Algona. Then on Tuesday Garrigan will be part of the state vocal jazz championships.

We’ll have mass Wednesday morning, and the juniors have a retreat that night. On Holy Thursday we’ll have our annual day of reflection, and there will be an early dismissal for the holiday that afternoon.

There’s no school on Good Friday and no activities next Saturday or Sunday as part of the Easter celebration. There’s also no school on Easter Monday. That night the golf teams face Spencer, with the boys at home and the girls away.

Classes resume on Tuesday, April 7. There’s girls track at Clear Lake that night. Wednesday the 8th we’ll host a blood drive at Garrigan, and the trapshooters have a home meet that night.

There’s a coed golf meet Thursday the 9th, with the Bears hosting Eagle Grove. The boys track team runs at Clarion that night. There’s trapshooting at Clarion Saturday the 11th, and that night will be Prom 2026.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for March. We’ll be off next week because of the Easter holiday, but be sure to join us again in two weeks for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.