By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
With a live auction as well as a silent edition going on simultaneously at the Trillium Event Center Saturday evening one could say it was a fiesta of auctions, but to the Bucyrus Rotary Club it was their annual Auctionfest.
In its 32nd year, the Rotary Auctionfest partnered up with Bucyrus Outreach Network (BORN) to help people with financial needs become self-sustaining and the Wynford Band Boosters to replace band uniforms. Bucyrus Rotary Auctionfest Co-Chair Terry Gernert explained how they select their partners for the Auctionfest.
“We go through an application process in August-September, and we meet with potential applicants,” Gernert said. “They submit a written application, and we evaluate them and then make a determination by usually mid-October. We start having the meetings then, and planning the event with the groups up until now.”
With 20 tables of items across three rooms for both the live and silent auction ranging from a rare Bucyrus Copperworks umbrella stand to the unique Spam lunchbox guitar, to pictures and art prints, the Auctionfest looked to raise a good chunk of money to split between Rotary, BORN, and the Wynford Band Boosters. Gernert explained how the Rotary comes up with the items for the event.
“A lot of Rotary People donate them, and the partner groups go out and solicit them, it is basically the community. We go around and spend a lot of time trying to get good items. We try to have items here that are attractive to raise substantial sums. Not to be snobbish, we aren’t looking to make a $5,000 night, we are trying to make a $34,000 or $40,000 for the evening.”
Sunday Gernert reported that on the initial counting that the Auctionfest netted $42,000.
“We had a very strong year,” Gernert said. “We are very happy with our results. It was a strong turnout with our partners.”
Gernert noted that it would still be a few weeks before all of the final numbers are tallied from the fundraiser.
At 4 p.m. attendees began trickling into the Trillium to browse the items up for sale. At 5 p.m. dinner was served by the Rotary high school group Wynford Interact, with food catered by Carle’s. Prior to the Auction kicking off entertainment was provided by Dave Miller.
At 6 p.m. the auction action started with a Michigan Chair being the first item auctioned off. Moments later Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser approached the auctioneer’s podium to auction off a one of a kind piece of history. That piece of history was the first tree to be planted in Aumiller Park for the city’s first Arbor Day celebration. The winning bid went to Elaine Gebhardt-Naples. Gebhardt-Naples spoke about what it felt like to be part of history.
“It is exciting, it is nice to be part of local history. I am very supportive of that,” Gebhardt-Naples said.
The tree will also have a commemorative plaque placed with it. Gebhardt-Naples noted that she plans on dedicating the tree to some of her relatives.
With their portion of the proceeds the Rotary have an extensive list of local causes that they hope to help in the coming year. A few of those causes include the Backpack Program, Music at the Mural, the Polio Plus Match, Safety Town, the Salvation Army, and the YMCA.
Auctioneers presiding over Auctionfest were Kenn Brause, Mark Yosick, and Mike Zahn.