Director of Food & Beverage Vince Farrar put things in perspective at the 2008 10- and 15-year service awards banquet: “Fifteen years ago, Bill Clinton was president, gas was $1.09 a gallon, a stamp cost 29 cents, and I had some hair.”

About 600 people gathered in the Oneida Room Aug. 28 to reflect on everything that’s happened in the past 15 years and to celebrate the service of those who reached their 10th or 15th anniversaries as Nation employees in the past 12 months. Several employees shared their memories of their earliest days with the Nation, including Front Office Manager Kim Lane, who started as a front desk clerk on the graveyard shift when the original hotel opened in 1997, and Dan Jones, now director of player development, who was part of the first blackjack dealers’ school in 1993.

“The instructors told us we were the cream of the crop, and every day we’d look at each other and think, ‘Really? This is the best they could do?’” Dan recalled. “When I did my audition, I spilled the cards all over the floor.”

Nation Representative and CEO Ray Halbritter shared his own memories, dating from the original bingo hall on the Nation’s 32-acre territory. “I was the first caller – I guess nobody else wanted to do it. We had the wire cage with the little wooden balls,” he said. “We had about 30 people that first night, and I think we made about $100.”

He took the audience through the negotiations of the gaming compact with the state and shared the back-up plan for what would become Turning Stone if the negotiations failed. “If we couldn’t open the casino, we were going to try to turn it into a shopping mall,” he said. “Each of those pillars along the center aisle in the original building marked the boundaries of store fronts in case we had to change our plans.”

Throughout the years, there have been challenges and opportunities, Ray said, adding, “We’ve overcome all those issues – legal, political, and otherwise. You’ve made us an exceptional property, a true American success story.”

After the gourmet dinner and presentations, the honorees and their guests were treated to a private after-party at Lava.