The Mandan Band Boosters plan a fun-filled evening Saturday at Mandan's Moose Lodge to raise money for music students. Band Blast will include prime rib and shrimp, games, live music and the opportunity to bid at an auction on such things as a $1,000 scholarship to Bismarck State College.

It's supposed to be fun, but Karla Aune of Mandan said it's more important than that.

Aune says her son and daughter couldn't have attended International Music Camp if not for the scholarship money raised by the Mandan Band Boosters.

"We wouldn't have been able to send them," she said.

And it was at the International Music Camp that an instructor encouraged her son to continue studying music, and so he did - and is now majoring in music as well as mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University.

"(International Music Camp) was a wonderful, incredible experience," said Aune, who is a co-chairman for this year's Blastevent, which happens at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Mandan Moose Lodge, 312 N. 20th St.

Aune said every year there are kids who wouldn't have been able to go on band trips planned by John Warren, band director, if not for the Blast money.

Blastmoney also helps pay for clinicians, uniforms, 20 partial scholarships to International Music Camp and other costs, organizers say.

This April, the band is heading to Orlando, Fla., for a national concert band competition.

At Saturday's Blast event, there will be a new auction item to bid on - a $1,000 Bismarck State College scholarship, donated by the college.

"We're excited about it," said Marion Higgins, a Band Blast committee member.

The Blast event, with Mandan Mayor Ken LaMont as master of ceremonies, will kick off at 5:30 p.m. There will be a social that includes a silent auction, a raffle and time to buy balloons that may contain cash prizes. Table Trivia will challenge people's knowledge about music and Mandan. At 7 p.m., the prime rib and shrimp suppers starts. And from 9 p.m. to about 1 a.m., a local band, Big Al's Big Band, will play.

Tickets are $20. For more information, call 663-0955.