2018 Holiday Gala Presented by Orscheln Farm and Home


My favorite time of the year is here.  The Missouri Governor’s Mansion is strikingly beautiful during the holidays with its greenery, lights and sparkles.  Tonight, the enormous 40-foot Norway spruce, donated by Lebanon, Mo., residents Mike and Linda Knudson, will be ceremoniously lit on the south Mansion lawn by Missouri Governor Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson and Candlelight Tours of the mansion will commence. 

Visitors will find the Mansion decorated in a down-home Missouri Christmas theme and enjoy seeing poinsettias, holly and six exquisite trees from Pea Ridge Farm in Hermann, Mo.  The 2018 Holiday Gala, an annual fundraising event of the Friends of the Missouri Governor’s Mansion, will take place on Friday, Dec. 7, and over 100 supporters will come together to raise funds to continue to preserve the Mansion’s history, furnishings and educational programs. 

It’s a busy time, and a very happy time as we take pause to reflect and say thanks to those who work so hard in supporting the Missouri Governor’s Mansion.

On behalf of the Missouri Governor’s Mansion board of directors, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Orscheln Farm and Home and the entire Orscheln family for their Presenting Sponsorship of the 2018 Holiday Gala.  Orscheln Farm and Home donated $25,000 to the Holiday Gala to preserve the Missouri Governor’s mansion for generations to come and to help our organization accomplish its 2019 goals.  Each year during the holidays, Missourians come together and support the Missouri Governor’s Mansion at the Holiday Gala, raising funds to support the state’s historic residence of our First Families.  We look forward to recognizing Orscheln Farm and Home as our Presenting Sponsor at this upcoming event on Dec. 7.

Family-owned Orscheln Farm and Home has strong ties to the state of Missouri. Fifty years ago, the company’s founder W.C. Orscheln, known by friends and family as “the Colonel,” opened the first Orscheln Farm and Home store in Sedalia, Missouri. His sons Gerald A. (Jerry) Orscheln and Donald W. Orscheln grew the business, and together with the Colonel’s experience, their vision and current family leadership, the company now owns and operates 168 stores in 11 states. Headquartered in Moberly, Missouri, Orscheln Farm and Home supplies rural America with products needed to run small family farms, ranches and homes.

It’s an exciting time as we begin looking ahead and planning our 2019 work for the Missouri Governor’s Mansion.  Thanks to Orscheln Farm and Home and many others, we are starting out ahead!  I look forward to sharing our continued progress with you!

Happy Holidays!

Rebecca Gordon, Executive Director, Friends of the Missouri Governor’s Mansion