HOULTON, Maine — The 61st annual Houlton Rotary Radio and TV Auction will take place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 21-23. The event will air from 6-10:30 p.m. each night on WHOU Radio 100.1 FM and on Time Warner Cable Channel 16, as well as online. The auction occurs at Watson Hall at the Episcopal Church on Main Street and the public is welcome to attend.
The auction is the major annual fundraiser for the Houlton Rotary Club. A supplement detailing the auction items for each half hour, special items, phone numbers and store room hours is in today’s issue of the Houlton Pioneer Times. The supplement sponsor for this year is Houlton Water Company.
The information is also available on the internet at www.houltonrotary.org. There will be links from the website to view the auction live on the internet. Details will be provided on the site. This year’s online sponsor is Adult Education College Transitions.
Each year, a major project or projects are funded by the Rotary Auction in addition to their many other charities. The major project for the 2016 auction is funding of a new Houlton Parks and Recreation Department Winter Sports Trailer and stocking it with cross country ski equipment and snowshoes.
Funds will also be used to support the Backpacks For Kids program, Friends of Aroostook, Southside School Playground Equipment and Adopt-A-Block. Other projects that will benefit from auction proceeds include Dollars For Scholars, Cary Library, Rotary Youth Exchange, Student Recognition Day and the Salvation Army.
The auction will feature a list of items for bid on each half hour (6-10:30 p.m. 9 half hours per night). Bidding on these items is only accepted during their individual half hours with the high bidder being awarded the item at the close of the half hour’s bidding. Corporate sponsors for each night of this year’s auction are Buildings Etcetera, Madigan Health Care Services and Severson, Hand and Nelson. Items featured in the half hours include homemade foods, gift certificates, oil changes, potatoes, hand crafted items and a selection of other merchandise.
Nightly special items are also featured. These items may be bid on throughout a given night. Successful bidders at the close of each night will be awarded these items. The nightly special items include Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL), a Keurig Coffee Pro, a Christmas quilt, Mannheim Steamroller tickets, a John Deere hat and jacket, a table tennis table, a barrel hamper, vehicle detailing, a 70-inch TV, hand-crafted items, furniture, a member share at the County Co-op, pellets, cords of wood, loads of loam and gravel, a helmet, tuition, faucets, 20 circuit panel, Christmas trees with $100 in scratch tickets, furnace tune-ups, gift certificates and a variety of other items.
There are also 3-night special items which will be featured throughout the auction and this year range up to $15,500. The 3-night specials this year include an 18-foot by 24-foot camp package from Ward Log Homes, a chimney liner kit installed, a snow blower, a bundle of cedar log siding, a ladies desk, bundles of Flooring OSB, a year of free coffee, iPad minis, a chainsaw carving, a half truckload of firewood, a rifle, a recliner, an entertainment stand, a car starter, 150 gallons of fuel oil, round-trip airline tickets, a Yeti cooler hopper and advertising. The successful bidders at the close of bidding on Wednesday evening will be awarded these items.
The retail value of the items donated by area businesses and individuals is over $63,000 and add-on items are still coming in. Add-on items can be contributed by contacting a Rotarian. For this year’s auction, the retail values for all items as listed in the auction supplement have been rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
Bids can be made for any items by calling the Rotary Auction room at 521-5894. Those outside the local area, but in state, may call toll free at 1-888-521-5894. The Rotary Club is asking bidders to make minimum bids of at least 50 percent of the listed value for the items. Some items may carry a higher minimum, which will be indicated in the supplement. Bids will be taken in whole dollar increments to assist programming and tracking of bids. This year’s phone sponsor is First Choice Real Estate.
Individuals calling in give the Rotarian on the phone the item number they are bidding on and the amount of their bid along with their name and phone number. The bids are then posted on a status board. The status board will be available for viewing on line. The bids are subsequently taken to the on-air auctioneers who will read the bids and indicate if they are high, low or even. The auction room is located in Watson Hall and the public is welcome to visit. Bids can be placed from the auction room until 3 minutes before the close of each half hour. No bids are accepted from the auction room after the 3-minute bell has been rung.
Successful bidders can pick up their items at the auction storeroom, sponsored this year by the Katahdin Valley Health Center. The storeroom is also located at Watson Hall in the Episcopal Church on Main Street. The storeroom is open daily during the auction from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and is open the two days following the auction (Nov. 24-25). Specific hours are listed in the auction supplement.
All items should be picked up by the close of the storeroom on Friday, Nov. 25, at 5 p.m. The storeroom phone number is 521-5891. When picking up items, individuals are encouraged to give their name to the storeroom clerk and bring a list of their item numbers with the amount of the successful bids to match up with the storeroom records. Items must be paid for in full at the time of pick up and payment must be by cash or check.
Members of the local Rotary club run all aspects of the auction including serving as on-air auctioneers. The Rotarian auctioneer schedule is as follows: Monday, 6 p.m., Matt Nightingale and Julie Delano; 6:30 p.m., Joyce Fitzpatrick; 7 p.m., Jane Torres and Paul Adams; 7:30 p.m., Andy Mooers and Jon McLaughlin; 8 p.m.,Torrey Sylvester and Chris Anderson; 8:30 p.m., Henry Gartley. The 9-10 p.m. slots are undetermined.
On Tuesday, Vicki Smith and Marguerite Lawler start the auction off at 6 p.m., followed by 6:30 p.m., Paul Adams; 7 p.m., Andy Mooers; 7:30 p.m., Jon McLaughlin and Chris Anderson; 8 p.m., Dana Delano and Kyle Taylor; 8:30 p.m., Henry Gartley; 9 p.m., undetermined; 9:30 p.m., Jane Torres and Henry Gartley; 10 p.m., undetermined.
On Wednesday, Henry Gartley starts the ball rolling at 6 p.m., followed by 6:30 p.m., undecided; 7 p.m., Jon McLaughlin and Dana Delano; 7:30, undecided; 8 p.m., Andy Mooers; 8:30, Frank Thompson; 9 p.m., undecided; 9:30 p.m., Tammie Mulvey and Jane Torres; 10 p.m., Matt Nightingale and Julie Delano. The auctioneer listing is subject to change.
Also part of the annual auction is the Boy and the Boot Endowment Program. This year is the 10oth anniversary of the Boy and the Boot statue being in Houlton and people are encouraged to celebrate this milestone by pledging a Boy and The Boot statue during the Rotary Auction. The Boy and the Boot statue was purchased in 1916 following a $1,000 bequest by Clara P. Frisbee and it has been a Houlton icon ever since. The $1,000 pledge to the Boy and the Boot Endowment Program is emblematic of Clara Frisbee’s gift.
Individuals may call in during the auction to pledge a Boy and the Boot statue. The pledge represents a $1,000 contribution to the endowment fund of the Houlton Regional Health Services Foundation, which benefits local health care. Some businesses also offer payroll deduction programs for the pledges and some payment options are available. At the completion of the pledge, the contributor receives a limited edition pewter replica of the Boy with the Leaking Boot Statue.
In addition, a $500 certificate for product donated by Dead River Company will be given away during the auction. Tickets are available from any Rotarian and will be available at the auction. Tickets are $1 each or books of six for $5. The product will be delivered anywhere within the Houlton-Patten Dead River district. The drawing will be held during the final night of the auction
The Houlton Rotary Club extends its thanks to all of the generous businesses and individuals who contributed items to this year’s auction and encourage the public to call in and enjoy the auction by bidding on the many items available.
Further information on the Rotary Radio and TV Auction is available by contacting auction chair Julie Delano, club president Matt Nightingale or any member of the Houlton Rotary Club.
