By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Plenty of potential presents and stocking stuffers will be sold to the highest bidders in Yukon’s Christmas auction, which returns this month after a COVID break in 2020.
Members of the Ladies Library Club, a support group of the Mabel C. Fry Public Library, were preparing this week for the opening of their “silent” Christmas auction.
The auction had been an annual Yukon yuletide tradition for decades until the pandemic abruptly halted the affair.
But it’s back in 2021 – opening this Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Yukon library, 1200 Lakeshore. The auction will run for two weeks before closing at noon Saturday, Nov. 20.
Featured are a wide array of gift baskets, Christmas wreaths, holiday decorations, gift certificates, and more.
“We have something for everybody,” Ladies Library Club President Charlotte Novak said. “The auction will be every day the library is open.”
Ladies Library Club member Genie Vinson offered simple, sage advice to holiday shoppers:
“Come on out and bid!”
All funds raised by the club are used to buy needed items at the library.
In past years, the Ladies Library Club used auction proceeds to purchase library computers and programs, furniture, a large storage container, and a rug and mural in the children’s area.
All items included in this year’s library Christmas sale were donated by individuals, organizations and businesses after the club sent out an appeal letter last month.
When this fundraising benefit began years ago at the former Yukon library (now city hall), it featured a variety of Christmas trees. And for many years, it was a live auction.
“They were beautiful trees,” Novak said. “Now we don’t have any trees.”
GUEST DAY TEA
Meanwhile, the Yukon Ladies Library Club will have a guest day tea at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18 at the Mabel C. Fry Public Library.
The tea is a great way for anyone interested in joining the library club to learn more about this group.
The Yukon Ladies Library Club meets once a month, from September through May. There are about 25 members with room for more.
Other officers are Vice President Teddye Sells, Treasurer Christy Ingram and Secretary Una Belle Townsend.
The Yukon Community Coffee will be Friday, Nov. 19 inside the Yukon library. The Christmas auction closes the next day.
FALL USED BOOKSALE
Another Yukon library support group, the Friends of the Library, will present its annual fall used book sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 6, along with the opening of the library auction.
Local bookworms will choose from a vast array of titles on the Mabel C. Fry Library’s front porch and breezeway.
Adult hardcover books are $1 and adult paperbacks are 50 cents. Children’s hardcover books are 50 cents and children’s paperbacks are 25 cents.
“What a bargain,” Yukon librarian Sara Schieman declared.
