Food and fun in the Flint Hills, Hal Berger blown glass, wildlife prints and outdoor packages, and a wind chime made from collectible St. Patrick’s Day green aluminum beer bottles will be auctioned off within the next few days at three separate fundraising events.
The Emporia Friends of the Zoo activity will be Friday, the St. Patrick’s Day committee auction will be Saturday, and the Quail Unlimited dinner and auction will be Tuesday.
The EFOZ event will start at 6 p.m. Friday at the Emporia Country Club. The silent auction will be from 6 to 7:15 p.m. and the live auction and card auction will begin at 7:30 p.m. Ron Thomas will be master of ceremonies and Paul Hancock will be auctioneer.
The format has changed this year, and will charge admission. The cost is $25 per person or $40 per couple. To purchase tickets in advance call the zoo office, 342-6558, or contact an EFOZ board member. Tickets will not be sold at the door.
This year’s “round-up” theme will feature Jake Miller performing rope tricks at the ECC entrance and Jane McCoy singing and playing guitar from 6:15 to 7 p.m. Those attending are encouraged to wear theme-appropriate attire.
Complimentary hor d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be available.
Bidders will have the opportunity to vie for sponsorship of three animals at the zoo; A bison, an eagle, and Samson the mountain lion. Each winner will have his or her name displayed on a plaque at the animal’s living quarters.
A Flint Hills Package will be given away during a “card auction.” Individual cards from a 52-card deck will be sold early in the evening at $20 per card. Six times throughout the evening, cards will be drawn from a second 52-card deck, and buyers who hold the matching cards will be eliminated from the contest.
“The last person holding the card is the winner,” Detwiler said.
The package includes a two-hour guided horseback ride through the Flint Hills, donated by Jan Jantzen; a gift certificate for one night’s stay and dinner at the Grand Central Hotel, donated by Steve and Nina Haught; a $100 gift certificate to Jim Bell & Sons, donated by Star Construction; two tickets for the Symphony in the Flint Hills; and an original photograph of “Flint Hills Burning” donated by Casey Wilson. The package is valued at approximately $600.
St. Patrick’s Day
Committee
On Saturday, the St. Patrick’s Day committee will hold its auction at Bruff’s Bar and Grill, 2640 West 18th Ave. This year, the committee will donate auction and other fundraising proceeds to the purchase of playground equipment for Peter Pan Park, according to Beverly Durham, committee president.
An assortment of silent auction items will be available for browsers and bidders beginning about 6 p.m., with the live auction starting at 7 p.m. Ron Thomas will appear as master of ceremonies for the second time this weekend, and Kevin Flott will be auctioneer.
“We’re lucky to have Joanne Berger on our committee, and she’s actually going to give a piece of Hal’s glass,” Durham said. Berger’s late husband, Hal D. Berger, was a master glassblower who had exhibited and sold pieces at national and international galleries.
Durham said she expected a variety of auction items, with original artwork, numerous gift certificates and gift baskets, plus a “one-of-a-kind” wind chime made by Carolyn Soule of Wichita. Durham said that Soule had made the windchime from special edition aluminum bottles distributed by Budweiser in honor of St. Patrick’s Day last year. The green bottles are decorated with shamrocks.
“That’s going to be a crowd-pleaser,” Durham said.
The auction will be the opener for St. Patrick’s Day fundraising through March 17. Committee members are offering tickets for a trip for two to Las Vegas. A $1 donation is requested per ticket, which gives a chance to win the trip, with round-trip air fare included, three days and two nights hotel accommodations, and $300 in cash. The drawing will be held at the Town Royal after the parade and the holder of the winning ticket does not need to be present to win.
Baseball shirts, white with green sleeves and trim decorated with St. Patrick’s Day logos and sponsors’ names, cost $20 and are available at Navrat’s Office Supply.
“It looks like a Team St. Patrick’s shirt,” Durham said.
Beads, leis and tattoos will be sold during the parade which will start at 1 p.m., and will run north on Commercial Street from Fourth to 12th Avenues.
One of the committee’s previous fundraising recipients, the Emporia Arts Council, will be featured in the parade.
“A few years ago, we gave several thousand dollars to the Arts Council for an artmobile, and it will be previewed in the parade,” Durham said.
Durhan said that parade entries will be accepted up to the time of the parade, although early entries are preferred.
“Families that want to be Irish for a day would be awesome. We’ll take everything,” she said.
For more information or a parade entry sheet call Durham at 342-2092.
Quail Unlimited
Auction aficionados will have a couple of days to recuperate before the Emporia Area Quail Unlimited conservation banquet and auction on Tuesday in the Anderson Building on the Lyon County Fairgrounds. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m., a steak dinner will be served at 7 p.m. and the auction will begin at 8 p.m.
Alan Kimmel and Ron Childers will prepare the steaks, and the Olpe Chicken House will provide the side dishes.
The event will include a varied selection of hunting packages, outdoor adventures, wildlife art prints, an array of firearms, unique games and raffles.
“We’re going to have a prairie chicken observation tour,” Whitney said. The winning bidder will go out on a guided tour during mating season into the prairie chickens’ booming area in the Flint Hills.
“They slap their wings on the ground,” Whitney said. “That’s where the booming comes from.
A tour of springs and an artesian well, a sporting clay shoot at the Flint Oak Ranch, a dove hunt in Sweetwater, Texas, pheasant hunts at Ravenwood and Cokeley Farms near Topeka, and dinner for six with the QU committee are among other items being offered.
QU again will bring in Laser Shot, an 8’ x 10’ compartment that holds a screen and a rifle to “shoot” at deer, pheasant, and quail that pop up unexpectedly. Prizes will be awarded to Laser Shot winners.
Advance tickets to the event are $45 each, which includes the $30 QU annual membership and dinner. Tickets for spouses, children, and associate memberships are $20. Annual memberships are $30, for those who do not want to attend the dinner.
Tickets will be $50 for members and $25 for spouses and children at the door.
Whitney said that “virtually all the funds we raise are spent right here in the greater Emporia area.”
The chapter has assisted with habitat-improvement projects, including planting winter food plots, cost-sharing on projects, providing equipment for habitat plantings, and providing native grass and forb seeds. Forbs are non-woody plants that are not grasses, trees, or shrubs. They include many garden flowers, wildflowers, herbs and vegetables.
The chapter also is involved in natural resource conservation education projects for youths, as well as firearm and hunting safety.