Auction Action

We had the auction to raise funds for the trip on Saturday, March 23, 2013.  We got up early to go over to set up, but upon arriving in Pullman, WA we got a call saying that the place wasn't ready for us.  They wouldn't be ready for about 2 hours.  So Ed and I drove back to Colfax; by the time we got home we had approximately 1/2 hour before we had to turn around and go back.  Thinking set up wouldn't take that long I figured I would have plenty of time to come home and change (curl my hair, etc.) and make it back by 5 PM. However the set up took a bit longer than anticipated.

Our fearless leader Nancy and Wendy.

Ed being oh so patient

 Ed and I decided to stop by, since we were already in town, plus we wanted to know where we were supposed to go, since neither of us had ever been at Banyans before (neither of us golf.).  It was good that we did stop, because we determined that more items were needed for setup.  We needed some extra long extension cords due to the lack of

Early Morning texting.

available outlets in the room.

We showed back up at around noon and began our set up which took
several hours to complete, but the end result was perfect with our silent
auction items on one side and our live auction items up front, plus the artist showed up to set up his displays.

Set up of silent auction items.

Jane, Nate, and Wendy hard at work.

  We did get time to look at the different items up for bid, which gave us a good idea of items we might want to bid on during the evening.
  We had the silent auction, live auction, and raffle.  The silent auction was easy.  Everyone bid on items, then we announced that tables 1-3 were closing, which made everyone who was eating, stop to make their final bids.





After we went around highlighting the final bids and turning in those sheets, Nancy announced tables 4-6 were closed.  There was another mad dash to try to get in their bids before we highlighted the winners.
     Then came the dollar raffle.  A raffle that required me to run from one person to another grabbing dollar bills and giving out numbers.  Okay, it was shouting out numbers.  This was a little confusing only because we had four of us grabbing dollars and sometimes we would say a number at the same time, so we would have to stop and figure out who got which number.  Then there were times when I would yell out a number and point to the person I had intended to grab the dollar from, but then one of my cohorts would grab the dollar and the poor person wouldn't know what their number was because I had moved on.  It all turned out well though.  With a few stops to get our bearings, everyone ended up with numbers.  It's funny, Ed bid on everything.  I drew the numbers out of Wendy's bucket without looking and Ed won two out of the three raffles.  So I got the quilt I really wanted and a Brandy and Mace cake where the recipe for it came from the 19th century.  We did cut the cake in half and gave part of it to CJ who had been trying to out bid Ed.  It was a great time, but boy did I get a workout.  I was stupid and wore heels, not high just a couple of inches, but dang they ended up killing my feet.

Ed, we're almost finished with setup.

Nancy and Wendy--computer work!

With the raffle completed it was time for the Live
Auction.

There were several items up for bid which included:  A thermostat and installation; a bow; a mechanics tool set; several pies; a chocolate pig cake; and a signed 2013 Cougar football helmet, just to name a few.

Live Auction and Raffle items.  Quilt above the helmet won by Ed!

We had a great auctioneer and he explained the rules of how to bid after Wendy decided to bid at half price.  Everyone learned how to cut the bid in half.  Although one gentleman tried it and the auctioneer said he didn't do half numbers when it ended with change.  I can't say I blame him, so a round number was decided on.
There was some back and forth bidding on specific items and some strange looks as CJ's wife tried to bid high on the Mechanics set.  It appeared as though CJ didn't really want the tools.  Lucky for him, she was out bid.

 One homemade peach pie went for approximately sixty dollars, which is amazing considering it started at one dollar.  The other pies didn't quite go for that much, but they still went for a sizable amount.

The bow rivalry was between two bidders.  One was a woman, but really she was bidding for the gentleman who sat next to her.  It was great to watch and listen to the banter.
And Nancy got the kiddie picnic table that she had wanted the moment I told her about it.  She was thrilled to say the least.

Wendy all decked out for the Auction!

 We even had some interesting items come up for auction.  For instance, a gentleman got up and said that he would donate $100 if one of the pastors in the attendees would sell him his shoes.  The pastor said yes and then promptly bought them back.  Then he said something along the lines of buying the other one's or someone's under garments.  To say the least that drew laughter from the crowd.

Silent Auction in Full Swing!

Once the auction was over, it was a matter of everyone checking out with their items and paying of course.  This took some time and there was a bit of confusion due to the meal not being entered exactly correct, but in the end it all got straightened out.

For me it was great, because Ed bid on items I wanted, so not only did we walk away with half a cake and a quilt, but we ended up with an alpaca blanket (oh so soft), a Scentsie pig, which I purchased, a handmade leather and yarn scarf from Ecuador, and a Java Bug mug/gift card, which we purchased just so the card wouldn't go to waste.

Live Auction Action!

 Clean up didn't take too long, but we had to wait until everyone was checked out and the computers were shut down so we could take the extension cord Ed brought.  This gave us time to visit with the staff.  They were great and really nice to talk to.  The girl, who just so happened to be named CJ, is a student at WSU and we discussed her research projects and her upcoming marriage.  She was patiently waiting for us to finish so she could finish cleaning up and go home.  But I think she found it nice to visit with people too.

Ed and CJ visited afterwards too.  CJ was great, staying to help us clean up.  They decided that we all needed to get together at some point and do dinner.  So with the auction officially over, it is now time to finish the fund raising, and move on to some workshops to prepare for the Mission trip which is fast approaching.

All in all, the Auction was fun and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, even though we had a few hiccups!

Ed and CJ--their bidding wars over!