‘2-fer’ planned at this year’s alumni reunion

    It’s going to be a “2-fer” at this year’s Chase County High School Alumni reunion banquet.
    Set for Saturday, May 29, classes ending in “1” and in “0” will all be guests of honor this year, said alumni association president Marlon Kunnemann.
    COVID-19 in 2020 forced alumni officers to cancel last year’s banquet. Early on, officers hoped to move it later in the year, but continued Directed Health Measurers prevented those plans.
    Kunnemann said doubling up on the event this year will be “quite a deal.”
    “I hope the building is full, we use every table and it’s a big hit,” he said.
    The May 29 event in Imperial will be the first time two years are honored together, as far as Kunnemann knows.
    “We want to catch up and do it without taking up two weekends,” he said.
    He thinks the combined banquet will offer an added benefit to alumni attending this year because they’ll not only have the chance to get reacquainted with their own classmates, but also with the class one year ahead or one year behind them.
    Kunnemann said he has no idea what the number of attendees will look like. He said they have a good group of class directors working on finalizing numbers for their classes.
    There are a couple of changes this year.
    There will be no bus tour of the community because of potentially big numbers. Kunnemann said they didn’t want to have to coordinate more busses.
    Secondly, longtime banquet caterer Jack Stinnette, who operates Jack’s Country Cookin’, is cutting back on large events, Kunnemann said.    
    He had nothing but good reviews of Stinnette’s service to the alumni association in the past.
    “We just want to thank him for all those years he’s catered for us,” Kunnemann said.
    Imperial Super Foods will be catering this year’s banquet at the new expo building at the fairgrounds at 6 p.m.
    Earlier in the afternoon, staff from The Imperial Republican will be at the school for class pictures.
    Separate times are set for each group of honored classes. Classes ending in “0” will gather at 4 p.m., while the “1” honor classes will have photos at 4:30 p.m., all in the Longhorn gym at the school.
    A dance with DJ music will follow the banquet. All honor class attendees present will be introduced at the banquet.
    A tent for the drinks served by Beverage Barn will be set up next to the expo building this year to allow for more seating inside, Kunnemann said.
    Others on the alumni association committee include Becky Bernard, Arlys Cupp, Jacque Banks, Kelsey Steinkraus, Jeanette Munger and Nancy Terryberry.