It is Spring in Minnesota. What a wonderful time. Time for a fresh start. This is a picture of me in the office. Being in an office again isn’t so bad. The trees are beautiful right now. We are working on a great auction for this Saturday. This is the Eva Lou Scott auction. There will be lots of very good old books on this auction, as well as many nice items of antique furniture, Noritake dishes, be sure to come and enjoy the auction. The auction starts at 10:00, the books will sell at noon. The auction is at 219 Maple St on the East side of Northfield. Hope to see you there.

Yes it is official. The Northfield Historical Society will be sponsoring a one day flea market in Northfield on July 4. The flea market will be located in Ames Park, which is across the river from downtown Northfield. It will be an “antiques only” flea market, meaning no crafts or recent imports, with merchandise at least from 1970 or earlier. This will be the first flea market in Northfield in quite a while. We hope to make this an annual event. If you are interested in exhibiting, please contact me. I will have more information as the time gets closer.

On Sunday afternoon (April 25) we had a real nice fundraising auction at St John’s Lutheran church in Northfield. The money raised will go to help kids go to camp this summer. In addition to the live auction there was a picnic lunch , a variety show, and a silent auction. There were lots of nice items at the auction. A chip carved Celtic cross sold for $180. Other items sold included dinners and brunches, violin and harp music, and even a seaplane ride. There was some very spirited bidding by some of the kids. All the parents had to do was to sit back and write checks after the auction. Sometimes people are surprised by how many fundraising auctions are held each year. A live fundraising auction can add interest and excitement to your event in a way that nothing else can do. People want to be generous and help with good causes and the auction method is a good way for people to participate who might not otherwise be able to. If your group would like to have a fundraiser auction but don’t know where to start, give me a call.

Last Thursday I attended the noon luncheon for the Northfield Rotary Club. Rotary is a service organization that raises money for worthwhile community projects. While I was at the luncheon, the Rotary Club made a $10,000 donation to the Mill Towns bicycle trail. I will be conducting a live auction for Rotary on Thursday evening at the Northfield Golf Club. We had a “warmup” auction on Thursday noon. Member Charlie Cogan donated his services to give tennis lessons. We sold 24 tennis lessons for $25 per lesson raising $600. The Thursday night event will feature both a live and silent auction and the auction is open to the public. Now that the days are starting to get longer, it is easier to start thinking about more outdoor auctions. There should be quite a few this spring.