FORE! John Bright Invitational Golf Outing on September 9th

[photos courtesy of Plainfield Village Preservation Association]

Do you like to golf (or, like me, like having fun pretending you can play golf)? Do you think you’d enjoy book-ending that fun on the links with a delicious box lunch and some great barbecue for dinner? How about sharing all of that with other good people on a pretty plot of green to benefit a valuable historic landmark? If you say “yes, please” to those things, then you should mark your calendar now for Sunday, September 9th and sign up to play through at the John Bright Invitational Golf Outing at The Bourne.

All proceeds from the outing will go toward the continued repairs to and preservation of the 1847 one-room Schoolhouse (currently sited at the Administration Campus of D202 on Howard Street), most immediately to making it weather safe.

Here are the key details:

Cost is $85/person, $340/foursome—payment due no later than September 6th

Sunday, September 9th, 2018

Tee off at 11a – shotgun start

At The Bourne, 2359 N 35th Road, Marseilles, IL 61341 (about 45 mins drive through the country southwest of Plainfield)

Listed below is what you get and what you need to bring. Want a direct link to the form to enter? You got it! (And, here’s a link to the pdf form that you can print and mail in with your check if you don’t want to sign up online.)

FYI, Peoria scoring will be used to determine team winners (best ball scramble).

The Getting

• Access to Practice Range
• 18-Holes of Golf (and, no sand out there means no sand traps!)
• Box Lunch (provided by Fork in the Road Catering)
• BBQ Dinner (provided by Baby Back Blues BBQ)

The Bringing

• Your own or a set of clubs borrowed from/to share with a golfing friend (The Bourne generally only has one set each of right- and left-handed clubs available to rent, so best plan ahead and bring what you need.)
• Plenty of golf balls, although you can buy some used at course for either $1 each or 6 for $5

This is a good fundraiser that is tons of fun on a course that is challenging in the “my face hurts from smiling, talking, and laughing for hours” way, not the “ugh, this is a slog” way. The Bourne is known by a lot of golfers for how beautiful the view from the overlook tees is, for lots of elevation changes that put on display the wooded hills along a creek that feeds into the Fox River.

See the VPA website (specific to the golf outing) for even more information, including the inspiring back story of John and Keebie Bright and how this event came to be. You can also find out how you can become an event sponsor and see the folks in our community already so graciously stepping up to be sponsors. And, you can learn more there about the VPA’s project that has so far seen the beautiful and successful restoration and preservation of this one-room school house from 1847, which included its relocation to the Consolidated School District 202 administration campus on Howard Street.

Want to get in touch with VPA about any of this? Please email the Outing Chair at vpagolf@gmail.com.

This landmark of our shared history is now over 170 years old and work is ongoing to keep it repaired and weather safe. To connect with the VPA in general, find them on the web and on Facebook.

Thank you in advance for your support of the Village Preservation Association’s efforts! Together with you, they will keep working to take good care of the village that we all love.