Mennonite Country Auction is Coming!

Our Washington Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale, the Mennonite Country Aunction is coming! It's always on the first Saturday in October, so this year it's October 3rd with the booth sales starting at 10 AM and the auction starting at NOON. The official website for this year's sale is www.mennonitecountryauction.mennonite.net.


The weeks leading up the the Sale are always fun when the items for the auction start to show up. This morning the back pews were draped with quilts. There was a very different one that came from a lady in New York called a garden quilt. The patches were all different kinds of fruits and vegetables -- including blocks of red potatoes. Walt has again made a gorgeous pair of turned wooden table lamps. I saw an antique oak cupboard sitting in the vestibule as well, along with a pair of Amish dolls.

Dennis and Kay ordered several cases of maple syrup (both flasks and cans) from Canada that will be a new item for sale in the booths this year. The fellows are going to fix a pancake breakfast Saturday morning so that people can sample the syrup.

One of the attractions for all of the relief sales across the country is Penny Power where glass five gallon jugs of coins collected by children are displayed and filled. This morning's penny collection portion of the service got just a wee bit long as Diane had decided to teach the children how the auction portion of the sale works. The kids all got Auction Cards with Bidder Numbers on them from me (and some coins to bid with...) so that they could actually bid on the items Diane had brought. A couple of the littlest ones (four year olds) really got into the spirit of bidding -- their parents are going to have to keep a close eye on them when the auction starts!

One of the older boys was high bidder on a box of 72 crayons, but he saw the disappointment of the younger boy who had been bidding against him. He turned and whispered in his Dad's ear, then quietly put the box of crayons in the younger lad's lap...