Photos by Samantha Bengtson
The Pura family enjoys their lunch at the Swiss Rifle Club during last Sunday’s Swiss Picnic.
Below, Alice Giottonini and her sister were in charge of the raffle and silent auction for the Swiss Picnic.
GONZALES — Once again the annual Swiss Picnic drew families to the Gonzales Swiss Rifle Club for a day of music, barbecue and family Aug. 19.
Every year, the Swiss Picnic has a silent auction and raffle that goes on alongside the picnic and music. According to Raffle Coordinator Alice Giottonini, the raffle and auction take a year to prepare and the result is several tables of items up for auction and raffle.
Giottonini has been part of the raffle and silent auction for about 10 years. She was drawn to the Swiss Rifle Club because she is Swiss and stepped in to ease the burden off some of the members who had been doing the raffle for a while and needed a break.
“We always have a tremendous turnout with beautiful weather,” Giottonini said. “We have great music and all kinds of raffle prizes and great food.”
The Swiss Rifle Club was in charge of barbecuing the chicken and steak along with the beans, salad and rolls. The Monterey County Swiss American Rifle Club barbecued the swiss sausage that came later in the evening.
“The proceeds from the barbecue go to the Swiss Rifle Club and everything else goes to the Monterey County Swiss Rifle Club,” Giottonini said.
Giottonini is also a board of directors of the Monterey County Swiss American Rifle Club. The picnic usually sells about 536 meals throughout the day.
