Rusty Mammoth Sale supports museum in a big way

MOSES LAKE — This year’s Rusty Mammoth Sale at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center was, well, mammoth.

“We about doubled what we usually bring in for this type of thing,” said Museum Superintendent Dollie Boyd. “We got really close to $6,000, and we’re accustomed to making closer to $3,000. Our friends and supporters really came out to show us some love.”

Part of the reason, Boyd said, was that the sale came at the beginning of yard sale season.

“The bargain hunters are hungry after a winter of being trapped inside,” she said. “And I think people are seeing what’s going on with city budgeting and want to help any way they can. And if they get to take home some treasures, then all the better.”

The Rusty Mammoth, named for the huge metal sculpture of an ancient pachyderm that dominates the museum space, is the museum’s biggest fundraiser. The museum hosts a lot of events for the public at no charge, and except for staff salaries and a small operating budget from the city, most of the expenses are paid for through sales.

More than 240 people came to the sale Saturday, according to museum data, and another 42 came to the presale Friday that’s reserved for museum members.

The sale doesn’t have to be over. The museum maintains a small space called Rusty’s Shop underneath the jewelry case in the museum store, Boyd said, where staff put out some of the choicer treasures that didn’t sell at the big sale. The rest of the leftovers will be donated to the Moses Lake Senior Center, she said.

The museum staff isn’t immune to the call of the mammoth, Boyd said, playing with a punch bowl she bought.

“I did donate a portion of my paycheck back to the museum (by buying the bowl),” she said. “We always do because we always find stuff that we want.”

    There was something for everyone at the Rusty Mammoth Sale at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. The sale was the biggest Museum Superintendent Dollie Boyd has seen in her six years managing the museum, she said.
  

    The Rusty Mammoth Sale Saturday featured a selection of art befitting an art museum.
  

    Shoppers catch up as they check out bargains at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center’s Rusty Mammoth Sale Saturday.