Two of the biggest sports nights of the year in Florence will be Aug. 19 and 20, the first at Three Rivers Casino Resort and the second at a barn five miles up the north fork of the Siuslaw River.

The first event is the sixth annual Siuslaw High School Hall of Fame dinner, which this year will feature a buffet as part of a salute to some of the best athletes to wear a Vikings uniform.

The second night is the Siuslaw Athletic Booster Club's annual auction, the organization's biggest fundraising event of the year.

"We're calling it the 'Booster Barn Bash,' a Western theme, and it's at my family's barn," SABC vice president Jennifer King Waggoner said. "We call it the Party Barn. We've had weddings and different events there."

Waggoner, who heads the auction committee, is trying to get an early start on planning. There already has been one meeting, and a second meeting is planned for 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the barn.

"I recruited people to be part of the committee," she said. "Not because we're being exclusive, but because I wanted to be sure we had some fresh energy, and some fresh ideas."

Waggoner also has enlisted auction veterans. "It's a nice combination of people," she said.

As in the past, there will be a silent auction and a live auction, which again will feature Coast Radio personality Bob Sneddon.

"We're hoping to carry the Western theme throughout, with the decor, the food, and the entertainment," Waggoner said.

"We have some very generous donors, and we have some different ideas for auction packages that we're going to try."

She already has secured two tickets to the rock band Maroon 5, which will perform Oct. 13 at the Moda Center in Portland.

"We're trying to put together a whole Portland package," Waggoner said.

For information on auction planning, email her at jwaggoner@peak.org or text her at 541-520-1255.

SABC MEETING

The booster club approved the first $2,000 towards planning for the annual auction at its monthly meeting Monday night at the Siuslaw High School library.

Last year, the club netted more than $23,000 after expenses in its ongoing goal to support athletics at the middle school and high school.

In other business Monday:

• The application form for a new club scholarship was approved. Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded by SABC this spring, one to a male athlete and one to a female athlete.
• The club approved a request from the varsity baseball team for $2,300 for new uniforms.
• The club approved a request from the bowling team for $450 to fund its trip to the state championships.
• The club approved $500 toward funding two bottle-filling stations on the high school campus. The Western Lane Community Foundation will be picking up most of the tab for the project.
• The annual Hall of Fame induction and buffet dinner will be 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at Three Rivers Casino Resort, reported Vikings athletic director Jeromy Graybill. The club approved an initial $500 for the Hall of Fame event.
• The club approved a $500 discretionary "gear for kids" fund request from Graybill.

Next monthly meeting is 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 28, at the Siuslaw High School library.

NOTES

Elmira (1-7 in 2015), Newport (1-7) and Pleasant Hill (3-7) will be on the Vikings' football schedule this fall, along with five Far West League games, Graybill said. ... The Vikings will host North Bend and Brookings-Harbor, while traveling to Douglas, South Umpqua and Marshfield. ... Elmira is the only new school on the schedule, replacing Hidden Valley. ... The final schedule is expected to be released later in March. ...

The Vikings' varsity baseball team's parents meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, at the high school baseball field if the weather is good, at the batting-practice facility if not.

First-year SABC president Gina Castro-Brandt announced she will not run for a second year. ...

SABC member-at-large Jim Archer has moved to Boring, Oregon. Archer was inducted into the Siuslaw Hall of Fame last summer to honor his years as a Vikings cross-country and track-and-field volunteer.