Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
People walked up the sidewalk with desserts in their hands on the way to the 16th annual Tekoa Dessert Auction Friday night at the community center.
When it was over, $8,600 had been raised to buy fireworks for Slippery Gulch Days.
Some of the proceeds were also used to make a memorial donation to the family of a Tekoa graduate whose funeral was that day.
“By far this has been the most successful fundraiser ever done for the fireworks,” said organizer Angie Rambo, who was assisted by Sandy Pavlenko.
Following a dinner of burgers and chips, volunteer auctioneers Jim Thompson and John Heaton took to the microphone, standing next to a table covered with cakes, pies, fudge, cookies and surprises.
As Thompson and Heaton called out numbers, Tekoa High girls Kayler and Kylee Dub and exchange student Thanapa (Pin) Boontherawara walked among the tables to give bidders a close-up view of the dishes.
A plate of chocolate bars from Amy Mendoza sold first for $75. Next up was a lemon poppyseed cake from Alisa Royal.
Heaton took the microphone.
“Do I have 50? I have lots of reverb, I know that.”
He got 50.
The numbers soon went higher.
“120 anyone?”
“Do I have 130?”
“120 going once, twice, thank you, Steve.”
The next dessert came up.
“A chocolate something made by Lisa and Gordy Haas,” announced Heaton. “Probably a little more Lisa than Gordy.”
The items kept selling and up came a Kit Kat Cake.
One man in the crowd countered each higher bid.
“I know what I want,” he said.
An apple pie came on the block next. It hung around, looking for one last bid.
“We’re gonna let Gabe walk out of here with this apple pie?” said Thompson.
“No we’re not,” said a man in the front row.
Heaton took the microphone again, selling another delight.
“Hefty Seed Company goes 140,” he said. “Is Jeff here?”
No, indicated the crowd.
“Okay, 200.”
Thompson’s turn came again and he was pushing a cake past the 200 mark when a toddler girl in the back started raising her hand.
Ady Carren’s unofficial bidding for grandma pushed the numbers higher.
“A cool 250?” Thompson called out, surveying the crowd. “It is a big cake.”
A mystery item came up a few desserts later, something cylindrical wrapped in black plastic.
“Mystery gift dessert, mystery something, comes with its own trash can,” said Heaton. “That’s always quality.”
It went for $90, revealed then to be a box of Twinkies.
“You figure it out, $10 apiece, that’s not bad,” Heaton said.
A fruit pizza sold, then something even more colorful.
“A Hawaiian Delight with lemon, pineapple and mandarin orange,” announced Heaton. “Do we have any hypoglycemics here? They need to keep their hands down.”
Later another item hovered in want of a 210 bid until something was clarified.
“Is there ice cream in there?” asked a man in front.
Affirmed, came the answer and a hand went up for 210.
The dessert display table was soon down to single items and Thompson took the microphone once more.
“From the kitchen of Angie Rambo, monster cookies. How many cookies?”
The crowd filled in some information.
“Once again, somebody else baked them actually,” said Thompson. “Cookies should last you through the weekend.”
Then a plate of fudge brownies with almonds pushed the outer boundary.
Soaring to 290, a man in a yellow “Seaside, Oregon Athletic Department” t-shirt pulled out his wallet and sifted bills.
He raised his hand to go 300.
Another hand went up at 310, then 320, 330, 340. Soon it was at 390 and the man in the yellow shirt’s hand went up to take it at 400.
Then he went to go take a seat at the bar.
He turned out to be an employee of Superintendent Brad Sayers and Granite Excavation, who is running the waterline project in town.
Once the total receipts were tallied, $800 was donated to the family of Bryan Hagan, a 1991 Tekoa graduate whose funeral was held that afternoon. He left two small children.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)