COEUR d'ALENE - There were a few groans, and then the 2,000 or so people began to leave.

The band began playing, a couple people danced, and Rayelle Anderson, North Idaho College Foundation director, was planning on going back to the office to call the winner of the house.

But Joyce Broemmeling eventually got over her shock, and made her way through the traffic of people heading to the parking lot to claim her prize.

"I couldn't get up," she said of her extended stay in the grass at the Fort Sherman Park on the NIC campus after her name and number were called. "You talk to so many people and they say it's not going to happen."

Oh, it happened. Joyce Broemmeling, you won the Really Big Raffle.

And after the sea of people left and she claimed the $265,000 home in Coeur d'Alene Place, she spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince her husband, Jon, over the phone that she wasn't pulling a fast one.

"I'm not kidding, I'm serious," she said into her cell phone, tears in her eyes. "Would you like to talk to the Coeur d'Alene Press?"

It was the first time Broemmeling bought a ticket for the event that sold out for the 17th year in a row and has netted $2.78 million in proceeds for the foundation. She did so, she said, even though her husband wasn't thrilled at the idea of a $100 long, long shot gamble.

After all, 4,999 other people were in the running for the house. But it turns out it paid off.

Broemmeling said she wasn't necessarily looking to put her Fairway Meadows home on the market but, she said after winning, "I'm ready for a new home."

The couple doesn't have any children living with them, so it's just for them. They're unsure of a timeline for moving in, but that's OK, there's a lot to figure out once the shock wears off.

There were drawings for prizes valued at $2,000, $3,500, $10,000 and $20,000, too. The tickets were drawn from a giant hopper, and put up on a board. The house was drawn first, so everyone had an equal shot for it, but read last for the suspense.

After it was, Broemmeling and her friend, Jayne Peterson, hugged in the grass, and everyone else bolted.

"Amazing," Broemmeling said, still shaking her head, the band still playing in the background, and the grass mostly bare save a few stragglers and tossed ticket stubs. "Thank you, thank you, so much."