I'm in my second year as entertainment chair so I'll share some of the things we do. My chair works with a guy who is also a DJ and he has donated his services for the past few years. We have him going all night long when we don't have any live entertainment. Last year I had an elementary school choir sing, a dance school has had dancers perform for the past 7 years, and we ask local bands to perform for free. Teenagers and college students will definitely do it for free just because of the publicity. I had 2 teenage bands, a college age guitarist/singer, and my local community college's guitar club performed. We also have had a team from a gym do aerobics and last year our theme was Relay Around the World so I had three teenage girls perform an Indian cultural dance they perform for their school's talent shows. People will donate their time when they know it's for the American Cancer Society. Heck, even the National Anthem is sung by a former high school student now just friends team of chorus kids (my team!).

We have a DJ company in town that provides a DJ all night, with all the music and equipment.  We pick out several songs that we just can't live without and they pick the rest.  We have never been disappointed with the.  Sometimes we even let him do announcements, just to have a different voice.  We put the company on the shirts as an in-kind sponsor.  Along with the DJ, we have several other entertainers - bands, dance troups, and various others throughout the night.  We keep the DJ on hand so that if someone doesn't show (yes, it happens), we still have music.  It's also nice that he can play music while the bands switch out so there isn't "dead air".

There is absolutely NO reason to pay for entertaniment. My husband Randy had been doing the sound free of charge along with his partner, they do it professionally, and this will be his 2nd year as entertainment director, and has had no problem getting bands to perform free of charge. You just simply ask them and if they say no, go on to the next band. You will get some that want to charge but when they find out you get bands to do it free then the next year they'll usually offer their services. My husband already has his line-up for '08 and only 1 band is returning from '07 becasue they're a 50's and 60's favorite. Let me know if yo need some pointers or help and I'm sure he will be more than glad to help you. He has entertainment for all 12 hours and still had to turn some bands down for this year and promise them next year.......Tammy Zidek