Organizers were thrilled with the turnout for the Thanks For Farming Tour held Wednesday and Thursday in Winkler at the Meridian Exhibition Centre.

Jeremy Matuszewski is a member of the organizing committee.

"It was so cool to do an event in our hometown and see a lot of local companies join us as exhibitors and talk to farmers from all across Manitoba. We had over 500 people through the two days come to the event," he said. "The Meridian Exhibition Centre was a fantastic facility. It allowed us to even think about holding our event in Winkler and the City of Winkler bent over backwards for us. Their staff were amazing."

Speakers covered topics ranging from grain marketing, farm transition and mental health. There were also lot of laughs with the afternoon presentation.

All of the proceeds from the event went to Central Station which handled the catering services over the two days.

Matuszewski says they were pleased to present a cheque for $11,112.50 to the non-profit organization.

"It's so very valuable," commented Bev Wiebe, executive director for Central Station. "We rely heavily on the community to support our programming, not just in financial dollars, but also in volunteers, we have hundreds of volunteers. Just to have this opportunity to be connected to the community and to connect with other people that maybe haven't heard about what we're doing. Very, very valuable. Very grateful to the Thanks For Farming Tour for choosing us as the charity of choice."

Wiebe said they're still calculating additional funds raised from the seafood boil held Wednesday night, noting they received about $12,000 in sponsorships plus ticket sales.

Funds raised will go towards general operating expenses.