OK, well, it was $20 in quarters, and no, Jo, I wasn't at the casino.
On Tuesday night, I went to one of the growing number of quarter auctions in York County. Most of them are fundraisers for various causes, and this one, held at the Dover Township community building, was done to help a team from the Dover Dragons Tae Kwon Do studio travel to a national competition.
Man, was it fun! My mom, Sarah and I went. A $3 ticket entitled you to two bidding paddles. The prizes up for bid, donated by local home sales vendors, like those with Creative Memories and Pampered Chef, were considered one, two, three or four-quarter items. If you wanted to bid, you paid that many quarters per paddle. Then, you held your paddles up, and the hostess/emcee drew pingpong balls from a box with numbers to match the paddles. If your number was called but you hadn't bid, they just drew another one.
Here are my lucky paddles: (206 was called several times!)
My mom won, on a bid of $1 total, a great, huge purse from Thirty-One. Mom and I bid a grand total of $1 between us and won a Boyd's Bears rabbit named Ashlynn for Sarah.
Here they are:
And, of course, I love my scrapbooking stuff. I won a Creative Memories circle maker, which costs $20.50, for $1. And, I won a special paper pack and sticker pack that you can't even buy through Creative Memories, also for $1.
Altogether, we figured that the three of us won at least $80-$100 worth of stuff, and we spent a grand total of $40 in quarters, plus about $5 for snacks and $6 for the tickets. Overall, not bad, and considering some of the money benefits a good cause, I'm all for it.
I know there are several other quarter auctions coming. In fact, there's one tonight (May 13), with doors opening at 6 p.m., to benefit Joyful Noise Preschool; it'll be held at 2215 Brandywine Lane, and you can contact Jill Brockington at j.brockington@comcast.net for details. Not sure what the cost is, sorry!
Then, there's one next Thursday (May 21) at Providence Presbyterian Church, 1215 Church Road in Manchester Township. That one benefits Inspiring H.O.P.E., a group that is trying to build a "barrier-free" playground at Cousler Park where children with and without disabilities can play together. Again, doors open at 6 p.m.; admission is $3 and includes two paddles, with additional paddles available for purchase.
And I know Red Lion's fire company has one on the fourth Friday of every month, including May 22. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the auction starts at 7 p.m. Cost is $3 and includes one paddle. For details, call 244-8811, ext. 3, or visit redlionfire.org.
I think I've found the next big York County pastime, even bigger than cow-pattie bingo and "I Got It" at the fair. If anyone else has tried quarter auctions, I'd love to hear about it!
