Houlton Rotary Club gearing up for 55th annual auction

HOULTON, Maine — With the changing of the leaves signifying that autumn is here, preparations are underway for the popular Houlton Annual Rotary Auction. This year’s 55th annual auction will run three days Nov. 22-24.
    Last year, area businesses and individuals generously contributed more than 1,100 items to this essential fundraising event. The auctioning of donated items, combined with additional auction revenue yielded over $25,000, which the Rotary Club gave back to the community and used to fund a variety of worthwhile causes.
One of the special items to bid on during this year’s Houlton Rotary Club auction will be a Ward Cedar Log Homes camp from America’s first log home manufacturer, made exclusively from Northern White Cedar.
The Baskahegan model is 18-feet by 24-feet, with a 6-foot by 18-foot gable porch.  8/12-roof pitch, featuring twin sleeping lofts. In the package are log wall materials, including gables, utilizing the popular 6 x 6 style log profile, as well as pre-cut and numbered 6 x 6 style solid “camp grade” log walls, caulking, backer rod, foam seal strip and spikes, window and exterior door frames and trim packages, log wall support posts and hardware, porch support posts, log siding to cover floor-framing system and solid log gables, not pre-cut.
The retail value of the camp is $11,800. Materials must be picked up at Ward Cedar Log Homes manufacturing plant by Dec. 10, 2010.
Throughout the past few weeks, Rotarians were in the community looking for donations from area businesses and artisans. All donors will receive recognition in a supplement to the Houlton Pioneer Times that hits the public in the weeks just before the auction. Additional recognition comes when donors give items ranging from $100 to $250; these items are listed as nightly specials. Those items worth more than $250 are listed as Three-Night Specials, and the donor receives recognition each night of the auction.  The Houlton Rotary Auction will once again be broadcasted on the radio, television and an Internet stream on our web site http://houltonrotary.org.