Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend my first Amish auction. This was a very special auction to raise money for the DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children. The clinic was founded several years ago by a group of Amish parents to provide special care for their children. This was the fifth year in a row the community has held the auction, and I had a great time. I went alone, but next year I'm taking my husband--he was out of town and couldn't make it. He would have loved it.

The attendance at the auction was about 90% Amish to 10% Yankee. I desperately wanted to take a picture--it was a sea of yellow straw hats in the auction hall--but I didn't. Instead I took pictures of some of the items they were auctioning off.

 A picture of the board displaying information about the clinic.

 The rainy, dreary day didn't keep people away. These are just a few of the buggies that were there--the auction started at 4, but by 6 the place was packed.

 Just one of about 20 items donated for the Chinese auction. This was in addition to the bake sale, food sales, and items that were auctioned off by auctioneers.

 A wringer washer. There were two of these being auctioned that night.

 Of course there were quilts!

 My favorite one.

There were so many fascinating things about this auction. One was the auctioneers. There were quite a few of them, and all were Amish except one. At one point there were two Amish boys who looked to be in their late teens auctioneering like pros. It was really impressive. They were behind a long table where an older man recorded who won the items. I can't even tell you how many things were auctioned--well over a hundred, and all donated. The variety was astounding--everything from the quilts to horse tack, pretzels the size of a huge donut box, potted mums, a cord of firewood, a case of motor oil, one delivery of sawdust, 50 lb bags of potatoes, gift certificates, a buggy wheel (yes, just one), banana bread, and at least twenty brooms. Lots of times the brooms were thrown in with whatever was being auctioned. My two favorite items were one stallion service (someone's gonna have a colt next year) and a dairy cow. No, I did not bid on either item!

Then there was the food! I bought some delicious Cookie Dough Brownies (they were divine) from the bake sale, but it took me forever to choose, everything looked so good. At the far end of the hall they had set up the food sales. There you could buy homemade pretzels (prepared right in front of you), hot dogs, sausages with this onion/pepper/tomato sauce stuff, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, salad, fruit cups, fresh donuts, french fries, candy bars, popcorn balls, and soft drinks. That's all I can remember, but I think there was more. No one went hungry!

One mainstay of the Amish is their dedication to community, and this auction was a prime example of that. Someone mentioned that there were people in attendance from all over, including Holmes county, which is a 2 1/2 hour car ride away. I had to leave the auction before it was over, but I would have loved to stay until the very end. It was incredible to see so many people gather together to support such a wonderful cause--the care of special needs children.

'Til next time,
Kathleen