Feeling a little pain at the pump? Try filling up the fleet of Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps vehicles for its nine-week summer tour.

On Friday, fans of the renowned Casper Troopers have a chance to join in a rousing send-off for the group, have some fun and help fill those big diesel tanks as well.

The second annual "Night with the Stars" enjoyed enormous success in its first year and has been tweaked to be even better this year.

"The true stars are the members of the Troopers," said fun-raiser chairman Matthew Krum.

Those arriving in time for 6:30 p.m. cocktails will have the chance to watch Trooper ensembles prepare for performances from behind-the-scenes. Then, at 7:30 p.m. sharp, attendees will watch the Troopers perform outdoors.

"We want to focus the evening on what is so important to us," Krum said. "The focal point is seeing again what the Troopers do."

Dinner is provided by Ramada Plaza Riverside (general manager Renee Penton Jones is a former Trooper) and celebrity bingo callers, just for fun, will include University of Wyoming football coach Joe Glenn.

Throughout the evening, individual Trooper ensembles will entertain and a video will be shown teasing the documentary made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Troopers.

"And then we'll cap off the evening with another performance from the corps," Krum said.

One lucky bidder during the evening will have the chance to "hold the baton and conduct the corps," Krum said.

"There will be chances for giving but we want to center the evening around the entertainment value the Troopers bring and the kids," Krum said. He was the drum major for the Troopers in 1992 and 1993 and is now manager of Troopers Bingo.

All of the Troopers will attend the event and patrons will have the chance to meet them and visit with them.

The evening also serves as the kick-off for the "Adopt a Trooper" campaign, geared to pay the cost of a single performer through one season. But more than just symbolic, Krum says there will be correspondence from the Trooper on the road during tour season back to the benefactor.

"The goal is to try to raise $1,000 per member," Krum said.

He said tuition is "under one-third" of what is spent on each member during a season.

"It's important for people who are giving to know where that support is going," Krum said.

Krum said the financial status of the Troopers, which did not perform in the summer of 2006 while attempting to heal its financial woes, is "on solid footing by all means and we're not wanting to take a step back."

But he acknowledged that the tour season, which begins Monday morning, "will be a struggle. Fuel prices have quintupled in the last 10 years and those rising costs are our Achilles heel."

Because it is the 50th anniversary of the Troopers, the corps has committed to marching in the annual Central Wyoming Fair Parade in Casper on July 8, exactly in the middle of its national competitive schedule.

"That's one of those things where people don't remember seeing us, but they certainly remember if we're not there," Krum chuckled. "So we're dead-heading back from Kalamazoo, Mich., just for the parade, and then heading right back out, because public opinion and support is so important."

Reach Community News editor Sally Ann Shurmur at (307) 266-0520; sallyann.shurmur@trib.com or see her profile and blog at my.trib.com/Sal/blog

If you go

When: 6:30 p.m., Friday.

Where: Trooper Center, 1801 E. E St., between South McKinley and South Beverly streets on the frontage road

What: Dinner, celebrity bingo, two performances by the Troopers, win a chance to be drum major at the evening's final performance

Cost: $75 per person/$125 couple. Buy at Trooper Center, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, or call 472-2141 to reserve.