Auction action: Mennonite Church raises money for worldwide projects
A quilt is displayed for the audience during the Mennonite Country Auction on Saturday. The auctioneer does his auction chant as a spotter, not pictured, yells there is another bid.
Rebecca Pettingill/Columbia Basin Herald
Aaron Reimer pours apples into the chopper before they are pressed into sweet cider at the auction.
Dozens of tables were set up for attendees to mingle and enjoy food for sale, from sausage on a stick to ice cream, at the Mennonite Country Auction.
The Ritzville Menno Mennonite Church ground was the place to be Saturday.
People from throughout the Pacific Northwest attended the 44th annual Ritzville Mennonite Country Auction and helped raise thousands of dollars for the Mennonite Central Committee, which supports world relief efforts.
The event has grown since its humble beginnings. Dennis Swinger, a member of Menno Mennonite Church and the auction committee, said organizers chose to keep the event on the church ground all these years, even though it could easily be at a bigger venue, because they wanted to respect the origins of the event. Last year’s auction was online due to the COVID-19 pandemic restricting in-person events.
This auction event isn’t just done by the Menno Mennonite Church. The auction is also held by other congregations all over the northern hemisphere. All the money raised, by the auctions and booth vendors, is given to the Mennonite Central Committee based in Akron, Pennsylvania. The money goes to help people worldwide facing natural disasters, community rebuilding and food insecurity.
Booths at this year’s event opened at 10 a.m. and included The Recycled Spoon, Country Store, Ten Thousand Villages, crafts, Etcetera and Quilters Corner.
Some of the booths have been run by families for multiple generations. One of the oldest booths is the freshly squeezed apple cider booth. According to records by the Menno Mennonite Church, the booth first became involved with the event in 1983.
Greg Reimer, a wheat farmer from Ritzville, has run the booth for many years. His dad, Walt, started the booth. Reimer said his dad started the freshly squeezed cider as a hobby because they had some apple trees in their backyard. One year, he decided to bring the cider to a booth at the country auction.
Thirty-eight years later, the fourth generation of Reimers runs the booth. Greg Reimer’s children have taken over and their children are helping, as well.
Attendees could watch cider making. Troughs were filled with water and throughout the morning apples were added as needed. Using 5-gallon buckets with holes in the bottom to drain the water, apples were scooped out of the trough and poured into the electric grinder. As the grinder chopped the apples to fine bits, the wooden fruit press filled. Once full, a wooden lid was placed on top and a threaded metal rod was twisted, pushing the lid down. This compresses the apple pieces and forces every last drop of juice out of the pieces. The juice ran through a screen filter and into a tube. The tube, which had a second filter screen, ran directly into a plastic barrel. The cider was dispensed into the proper container from the barrel. The scraps of apples left after being squeezed for their juice were thrown into the empty apple bins and are later given to a local farmer who owns pigs. This results in nothing going to waste.
A family from the local congregation owns an orchard and provides the apples for the booth. They had three apple bins full of three different types of apples for the cider. Reimer said this year his family started out with fewer apples than normal because they weren’t sure what the turnout would be due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Reimers were out of cider by 12:30 p.m. The cider was sold by the gallon, one-half gallon and cup.
Other handmade food sold at the event included apple butter, ice cream and maple syrup from Canada.
The auction portion of the event drew a crowd and was filled with a variety of items. It kicked off at noon with the tradition of auctioning a loaf of bread. The loaf, baked by a local congregation member, would be used for communion at church the next day. This year, it sold for $250 by a bidder known only as “Howard.” Eight other bidders gave $25 to $250 for the loaf, as donations. With those donations, the loaf brought in $1,250.
The most common item sold at the auction was quilts from all over the country. Some were sold at previous auctions and re-donated to this year’s auction.
Some quilts fetched a high price, such as $950. The $950 quilt was pieced together by Betty White from Moses Lake and quilted by Kandi Taylor. It was noted during the auction the fabric came from The Fabric Patch in Ephrata.
Lyn Keeney, of Spokane, said she was invited to come by friends.
“It’s a pretty interesting event,” Keeney said.
Swinger said as of Sunday morning, the event raised $93,000. It was down from past sales, but truly a blessing, Swinger said.
