The 2019 STRIDE Wild Game Dinner and Auction raised thousands of dollars Friday.

Lauren Mink Frazer, fundraising chair for STRIDE, said the dinner and auction is one of STRIDE’s biggest fundraisers.

“We’ve been doing this auction for 14 years now, and this was in our Top 3 in proceeds going to our STRIDE Program,” Frazer said. 

All proceeds benefit the children and adults with disabilities STRIDE, which is going into its 20th year in 2020, serves. Frazer said about 275 people attended this year’s event, but that doesn’t include the people bidding from their phones off-site.

This year’s dinner, which was at Stock Farm, was a bit different as bidders were able to use the HandBid app which allowed more participation in the auction, as some people could bid on items even if they didn’t attend the dinner.

“We are so excited that people loved and had fun with the HandBid App,” Frazer said. “It was slightly addicting because you were alerted every time you were outbid and who likes to be outbid? We hope other nonprofits and auctions use this app in the future. We were nervous to be the first people to use a mobile device for our auction in Winchester, but boy was it worth it.”

This year the chef was Black Barn BBQ, a Nicholasville-based caterer and food trailer, that makes traditional Kansas City-style BBQ meats and sides. 

The menu featured duck pepper poppers; alligator bites; bison burnt ends featuring bison meat from Blackfish Bison Ranch; gumbo with pheasant, quail and rabbit; and more. 

The event was also part of the Kentucky Proud Farm to Fork program which aims to increase the awareness of the local food movement by partnering with organizations to benefit a charity in their community. Many of the food items the dinner used came from local farms, farmers, producers and Kentucky Proud products.

The Big River Band, a Lexington-based classic rock and country band, also performed throughout the night.