A whole lot of fun Saturday, November 9 at the Highwood Memorial Centre for first annual Rotary Club Lip Sync Battle.

Nanton's David Gale and Amanda Bustard were the big winners with their version of the Sloan classic "Money City Maniacs."

They won a thousand dollars, and another thousand to donate, and Gale says that money will stay right here in the Foothills.

"So, we're going to give that actually to the Lions Club. We just moved to the Foothills area, so we decided to give it to the Lions Club, because they really stand for what we stand for, which is giving back to the community."

Nanton's David Gale and Amanda Bustard collect their cheques at the end of the night following their big win in the first annual High River Rotary Club Lip Sync Battle.

Gale says he was surprised with the win, considering some of his group had to cancel last minute, forcing him to recruit out of the audience for help.

"We thought, well, you know what? Let's just get the crowd involved. So we asked somebody from the crowd to come in and be our drummer and asked a few more people if they'd come and blow some air through our hair. Because we're a rock band! We did a little Sloan and we wanted to make it look like a real rock show. And the only way you can do that is by having air blown through your hair. So we gave them leaf blowers and had a lot of fun with it."

Bustard, actually made a couple of appearances on stage during the night.

"We were kind of filling in. We had another band that needed to cancel last minute and we wanted to make sure the show went on. So, I filled in. We have a lot of fun doing this. We do this for our company. We do it helping to raise money. So, yeah, we love doing this kind of stuff."

A few hundred people turned up for the event which saw 10 acts compete.

The High River Rotary Club is sporting some fresh faces in their leadership circle. The club chooses to cycle through their leadership roles every year. According to new President Elect Damian Boyle, this is a good way to keep the traditional way of doing business alive, while providing new ideas. "Last year I got elected to be Vice President, so I did that for a year and this year I become the President Elect. Next year I'll become the President and the year following that I'll become the Past President." Boyle explains "What that does is allow each club to maintain a continuity within the organization, so you never really lose direction of the ship." Boyle, who's only been with the club one year, says he's looking forward to the role change and in getting to experience different responsibilities this year. "There's a lot of tasks that the Rotary Club does that need organization. So the Vice President, the President Elect and the past President help to put those structures in place, helping the Club President who typically confine themselves to the leadership and administration of the Club." Boyle says it's this process that allows them to think out of the box. "I think every time you have new membership and new direction of the club, you'll see different flavours being brought into how we do business." The Flag program is one of those fundraisers that came about with a change in leadership and now the Rotary Club is planning a lip sync battle fundraiser to take place in the fall. Boyle says it's only members that get to vote, but anyone can join the club. "It's a whole different game - the Rotary Club, nothing we do is for ourselves, we do everything for people who need it. Local people and people around the world." Boyle says "That to me is very, very important, so if there's anyone with a desire to get involved in the community, and who wants to have some fun along to way, they should contact us. It's well worth the time."

Below - New President Ev Doherty gives his inaugural address to the club.

Below - Outgoing President Paul Tarrant (left) presents Bart Brocklebank (right) with a special award for "Exemplary Dedication, Volunteerism and Service to the Rotary Club of High River."