PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A store in the Aroostook Centre Mall boasting northern Maine’s largest silent auction will open weekends for the month leading into the holiday season. Presque Isle Rotarians and members of the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce will hold an official grand opening and ribbon cutting for the new Rotary Auction Store in the former location of Deb, just off the mall food court, on Friday evening, Nov. 17, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
The store, one of many changes to mark the 70th anniversary of the annual Presque Isle Rotary Auction, will open weekends through Dec. 17, when it transitions to the spot for successful TV Auction bidders to pick up their items. The Presque Isle Rotary TV Auction will be broadcast live on WAGM TV’s Fox affiliate station (channel 12 for area Spectrum Cable subscribers) on Saturday, Dec. 16, beginning at 12 noon and running through 7 p.m. The event will be webcast on wagmtv.com.
An official printed listing of auction items valued at more than $40,000 is available throughout Aroostook County at all Katahdin Trust Company locations, the mall store, numerous businesses across Aroostook County, and online on the Presque Isle Rotary Club website and Facebook pages, wagmtv.com and the Katahdin Corner on the Katahdin Trust Company website.
The store will feature exclusive merchandise and gift certificates, valued at nearly $10,000, that will not be offered on the Dec. 16 broadcast. Patrons can place bids using silent auction sheets. Shoppers will also have the opportunity to “Buy It Now” for 10 percent above the retail price noted, with all proceeds going to the Presque Isle Rotary Club. The TV broadcast’s “Big Board” items will be displayed in the store and bid sheets will be available, so patrons can “bid up” the items before they go on air. The club will sell tickets on a 50/50 raffle.
“The Rotary Auction store and the TV auction will have something for everyone looking for that perfect Christmas gift, and all under one roof,” said Clint Deschene, store manager, who is co-chairing this year’s auction along with fellow Rotarian Jason Parent.
“Those who have their eye on some of the great items, including snow blowers, high valued gift certificates to some of The County’s finest businesses, and dozens and dozens of the larger items that will appear on TV auction ‘big boards,’ will have a chance to see them in person and place their bids before they go on air,” said Deschene.
The mall store will also serve as the venue for the Wintergreen Arts Center CHAIR-ity Auction.Fifty originally designed chairs of various sizes, the creation of numerous area artists, will be on display. Chairs will be exclusive to the auction store and will be up for bid through Dec. 17 at 12 noon.
Visitors to the store may also purchase commemorative Christmas tree ornaments being sold by the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club. Proceeds from ornament sales support the Riverside Park playground project, led by Kiwanis, Rotary, United Way of Aroostook and the City of Presque Isle.
The Rotary Club has chosen the playground effort as the auction’s “Community Project” in lieu of a “Special Project” and will designate a portion of general auction proceeds to the park project. Renderings of what the new Presque Isle Riverside Park Playground will look like, when complete in 2018, are on display in the Rotary Auction Store. More information on the project will be available, and donations to support the project will be accepted on-site.
“Excitement is building for both our 70th Rotary Auction and for our collaborative community undertaking to bring new playground equipment to Riverside Park for children and families to enjoy,” said Parent. “We are continually grateful and profoundly appreciative of the support our club has received from the community over the past seven decades and look forward to the community rallying with us as we celebrate 70 years of a great community tradition.”
The auction store will be open weekends through auction time as follows: Friday, Nov. 24, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Nov. 18 and 25 and Dec. 2 and 9, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; and Sundays, Nov. 19 and 26 and Dec. 3-10, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., as well as auction day 12-7 p.m.
For more information, contact Parent at jparent@acap-me.org or Deschene at deschenec@sad1.org. To inquire about the playground project or to donate, contact Rotarians Jane Towle at janetowle@maine.rr.com or Sarah Ennis at Sarah.Ennis@townsquaremedia.com.
