| Note: this is an archive of the old 2007 Sale pages. Click Here for the newest pages. |
[Start with the newest entry (at the bottom)]
This page was updated regularly during the sale with the latest news and pictures from the sale. If you just couldn't make it to the sale this year, you can at least get a taste for what you missed and start making plans to come next year (April 11-12, 2008). You can also visit this page after you get back from the sale to relive the experience!
Last Year's Live Coverage is still available. Also, if you won't be able make it but would still like to help by donating some money or items, see the More Information Page for contact and contribution information.
New entries will be added at the bottom so if you want to go straight to the latest entry you might want to start at the bottom. You might also need to select Refresh or Reload on your browser if the new information doesn't seem to be showing up.
Welcome to the 2007 MCC Relief Sale! It's a beautiful day for a sale! Well, not beautiful in a weather sense, it's actually somewhat rotten outside -- cold, snow falling, and I heard someone wish someone else a Merry Christmas. But the great news is most of the Relief Sale takes place INSIDE, and since you can't do anything outside, you might as well stop by and enjoy the fun!
| I'll start with this quick picture of the sign I often start the Live Coverage setion with -- the Welcome sign coming in to Hutchinson on highway 61 (southbound). I'll include more pictures in my next update. |  |
Anyway, let's start with some pictures I took while getting things set up...
| The Pies and Breads booth is the closest to where I'm set up in the Meadowlark Building, and it's always impressive to see the tables and racks and racks of fresh goodies, so their picture is often first in my Live Coverage section. |  |
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Plants and Things is a great place to get plants... and things! Joyce Watts, in the left picture, current chair of Plants and Things, unpacks and arranges some plants, as does Estella Headings of South Hutchinson (center picture). Off in the distance in the third picture is Kristi Unruh, who will be in charge of Plants and Things next year. |
| Some of the racks laden with quilts, ready for viewing now and for bidding tomorrow. | 
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Donna Regier of Buhler and Sharon Regehr of Inman, along with a number of others, help get things unpacked and arranged at the Kansas Crafts booth. |
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Howard Lohrentz, center, and Laverne Stucky helped move and set the the train layout here, donated by Richard Schmidt (not pictured). Read the Complete Story. |
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This whole sale is to benefit MCC -- the Mennonite Central Committee -- and all the local and world-wide aid programs they sponsor. Jude Krehbiel, MCC Newton Office Manager, and Dave Gerber, MCC Newton Warehouse Supervisor, are on hand at the MCC Information Booth in Sunflower Building North, to answer questions and talk about MCC's mission and goals. |
| Matt Schmidt, in charge of the Silent Auction, describes the "Hand crafted maple spinning wheel, made in the 1960's by Jacob Lohrentz. Each piece was carefully shaped and finished. It is complete and workable." Some of the other items are pictured in the second photo. | 
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Okay, I wasn't sure I should do this, for fear of scaring anybody away that might be reading this blog, but here are pictures of what's going on outside right now. But then I saw what's in the next pictures... |
| ...the weather's not stopping a ton of people from showing up anyway! Look at these crowds, and that's just this building! | 
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Oh, and the General Auction has now started! It will run for a little tonight, then start up again tomorrow morning around 8:45am. |
I'm going to go get some food and take pictures in some
of the other buildings. But first I've still got a final little batch of pictures still
in my camera...
| Ten Thousand Villages is an ongoing fundraising part of MCC, with stores in Hutchinson, Newton, and around the country open throughout the year to get crafts from artisans around the world into your hands. In the center picture, Collin and Kevin try out some musical bowls, and in the right picture Leo Schmidt of Hesston shows off some of the other items available for purchase. |
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The Caps And Yardsticks booth has more available than ever, with fresh fruit and popcorn among other things. Mary Beth Goering, normally helping out at the Quilter's Corner, becomes a customer as she buys some popcorn from Nick Mosley. |
Well, I'm well fed and I took some more pictures, but I think I'm going to pack up here and get home before it gets too late or too dark, and wait to process and upload the pictures from there. So expect one more update tonight, once I get home, and then I'll pick things up again here at the sale early Saturday morning!
Well, I'm back home and I thought I'd give a quick update just to let everyone know that, before processing that last batch of pictures. I followed Bob Harder, W0BH, and we averaged about 30 mph most of the way, which is about half speed, so we got home safely even if it did take twice as long. Tomorrow is supposed to be a better day! So, one more update tonight to come...
| Rewind back to around 7pm. On my way to supper, I saw the music program had begun. I'm assuming that's Bryan Moyer Suderman up there on the stage. |
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Then on my way through Sunflower North, I saw Jude had replaced Dave at the MCC Booth with another distingushed gentleman, John Stoesz, the MCC Central States Executive Director. |
| Still proceeding toward Cottonwood Court to get my supper, I passed through the Domestic Arts Building and saw the wonderful Ukranian Easter Egg artists at work. In the second picture Kathleen Neff carefully paints the initial pattern onto a new egg, and in the next photo we see Grace Adam from Nebraska and Miriam Regier of Newton working on various aspects of the Pysanka art. |
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Next door was the Caps booth, sporting hundreds of caps, as well at these two cousins who go by the names of Gilbert and Richard Schroeder of Hutchinson. |
| I also stopped by the Cheese and Meats booths in the same Domestic Arts building, and caught Dave Stoll selling various cheeses to Chris Showalter and daughter Cari, all from Hutchinson, and at the Meats booth found Mrs. Larry Flickinger of Burton eager to help salegoers find the meats and mustards they were looking for. | 
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I finally made it to Cottonwood Court; by then they were down to one line serving (out of about 6 or 8 when things are in full swing), and was able to get through pretty quickly. Bonnie Kauffman of Moundridge, shown here in a black hat (she said she didn't like the white paper hats everyone else had to wear, so she stole that one from one of men working behind her) was the first in a long line of people who served me the food I wanted. In this case, I wanted the veggies Bonnie gave me, Verenika with gravy, a sausage, and some cherry moos for desert. Tomorrow I'll probably have the Borscht and Bohne Beroggi as well. |
| Okay, here are the final snow pictures of the day as I head from Cottonwood Court back to Meadowlark to pack things up to go home. | 
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Good Morning! I'm getting ready to leave home to get out to the sale. It normally takes about 40 minutes to get to the fairgrounds from Hesston, but with the road conditions it'll probably take me a little longer. Be careful, everyone, when going to the sale today. Go as slow as you need to go to be safe, and come on in if you can!
The General and Quilt Auctions are set to start at 8:45am, and I'll be posting the amounts each quilt sold for once things get going.
I made it to the fairgrounds without any problems, going at or close to the speed limit all the way, so road conditions, while not perfect, are much improved over yesterday and bound to get better with snow no longer actively falling. I've been here half an hour, but had to get the wireless connection set up before the quilt auction started so I could "suck down" the quilt prices whenever I need them, to update the website. I'll be sucking a lot today!
Anyway, more pictures soon... I've got some from yesterday I forgot to process.
| At the "Make a School Kit" booth, Tyson Perry of Newton helps Tanner, Emily, and Mille, and a little further back, Abby, put together a school kit to send to school children in other countries. |  |
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Miniature Golf has grown in a couple of years from 3 holes to a full 9-hole course, each hole intended to illustrate something about MCC and helping people in need. Heather Sazama and her son Tate enjoy a round of golf on these nice sets. |
| Other kids activities in the Pride of Kansas building include the Children's Auction, set to take place at 10am, and the Moon Bounce. | 
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The above way yesterday. Here are a couple of pictures while I was coming in this morning. The snow made interesting patterns on poles, from the North side of every wooden power pole being several inches of white and nothing on the other side, to these interesting patterns on the metal light poles. |
I got the quilt pricing working after a little glitch, so the Quilt Gallery is now showing the sold-for prices for quilts 1-50. So far, we've sold one for $3,500 and another for $2,500, with lots more to go! I'm going to run around and try to get some more pictures, because I am now OUT!
| The Quilt Auction is well underway, and I've been posting the prices Quilt Gallery as frequently as I can. The weather is definitely not keeping people away -- the seats are almost completely filled! |
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Next to the auction stage is the Sit N Stitch quilt where people are welcome to help finish a quilt. In the second picture, Marcia Rogers of Fairmount, Oklahoma, shows Micayla and Abby and their grandfathe Ralph how to do some stitches. In the third picture Mary Dahlberg of Oklahoma City shows a couple other girls the proper technique. |
| New this year (I believe) is this Geneology booth. The brains behind it, Leo Thiessen couldn't make it to the sale after all, so his daughter Amy Thiessen of Denver (center) set it up and is operating it. Here she's looking up information for Sue Funck, while her cousin Lyle looks on. |  |
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The Russian Pancake booth has been here for at least a dozen years, run by this group of friends, currently from Hillsboro, Hesston, and Wichita, since the beginning (plus or minus a few). Left to right are Deb Brubacher, Liz Easter, Greta Wiebe, Anette Vix, and Dale Brubacher, with Lynn Wiebe around somewhere. |
The next batch of pictures were taken by Kent Harder, N0XOS. Thanks, Kent!
| Jim Lohrentz and Harold Pauls discuss matters of grave importance, probably, in front of the 1952 Allis Chalmer CA tractor at the General Auction |  |
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Clint Hankins checks out one of the trains in the first picture, and in the second picture we find Darron Nisley of Hutchinson, his daughter Ellie, sister Susan, and daughter Alyssa. |
I grabbed some food here locally -- a Russian Pancake and a Pork Tender, and satisfied my hunger (I decided I didn't have enough time to go through the Feeding The Multitudes again), so I'm off for another round of picture taking. I'll be back as soon as I can!
I'm back from taking pictures and getting some more lunch (BBQ Chicken, yum), so a quick update to let you know I haven't forgotted the Live Coverage, but it's going to take some time to process the pictures. The quilt auction almost finished but still going, and it looks like we've had 3 quilts sell for $5,000 or more, with the highest being Quilt #181 going for $5,600 just recently. Three quilts in the $4,2004 - $4,500 range, and four in the $3,000 - $3,700 range.
| Here's some of the guys that made the BBQ Chicken I had: Tim Hertzler and Joe Fenton of Whitestone Mennonite Church cook the chicken and Joe is loading a batch into Lyle Friesen's box to carry back to the vending table. |  |
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Although the peoplemover is operational today (I don't know if it was yesterday; I didn't actually see it then), it's turned into a nice enough day that a lot of people are enjoying hoofing it between buildings. |
| Al and Lauren Schulz, parents of the Kansas Relief Sale's Publicity Director Becky Blough, serve up the popular glazed New Year's Cookies in the Domestic Arts Building. |  |
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This time I didn't just take pictures in the Domestic Arts Building, I also bought some thingsm including one of these eggs. Here we see Miriam (I think) working on another egg and showing finished eggs to interested kids and onlookers. |
| Fresh cookies, courtesy of four churches in the Hutchinson area: Arlington Amish Mennonite Church, Cedar Crest Amish Church, Center Amish Church, and Word of Life Church. Two of the many workers are Jackie Yoder of Hutchinson, and Kylene Bontrager of Arlington. |  |
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My final picture from inside the Domestic Arts Building is of the Verenika and Sausage booth, where Richard Dove, a professor at McPherson College, accepts some Verenika with Ham Gravy from Hannah Klaassen of Kansas City and Sarita Duerksen of McPherson. |
I'm going to hold off on posting the rest of the pictures until I get home. I have heard a couple prelimiary numbers: the Quilt Auction has brought in about $127,000, and the Quulter's Corner had a great weekend with about $12,700 in sales! I haven't heard the results of the General Auction yet. The Surplus Auction is currently going strong.
The sun has been shining since late morning, the large amounts of snow we got yesterday has become almost entirely large quantities of water by now, and it's winding up a beautiful day. I'll show a couple outside pictures on my next update from home. For now I'll say goodbye and thanks for visiting the website and, hopefully, the sale itself!
I'm home and am going to relax a little bit and post my remaining pictures in a couple hours. Also, as unofficial and official sale results come in, I'll post them below.
| Here's a photo similar to the one I took last evening in the midst of Friday's unseasonal snow. As you can see by this afternoon almost all the snow is gone. |  |
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Heading back to my station in the Meadowlark Building, around 2:30pm, I ventered again into the new location for the Children's Activities, the Pride of Kansas Building. The Moon Bounce is full of kids right now, and future hockey star Jayce is scoring a few goals against Terry Stucky of Pretty Prairie. Terry's church, First Mennonite Church of Pretty Prairie sponsored this hockey shoot as well as a number of other activities on that side of the building such as the hoops and swings. |
| Venturing outside, I paid a visit to Roland Krause, for many years "The Voice of the Relief Sale." He talks to passersby from his van and loudspeaker, telling them about the sale, about MCC, talking to them, and bringing smiles to everyone's faces. Go on up to his van and talk to him next time you see him! |  |
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And of course the sale wouldn't be complete without the Olde Iron Junktion, where you never know what you might find! |
| By now things are starting to wind down. Quilter's Corner has sold almost all their items, and now Kaye Penner and Deane Frey tidy up the remaining few items while Dorris Froese of Inman finds a few more goodies to buy. |  |
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The Quilt Auction is over, and the Surplus Auction has begun, selling all perishables and whatever else was left from the auctions, vendors, booths and other donated items. You know, some years they run out of pies early, and sometimes they sell the extras off during the Surplus Auction! |
| I caught Cookie Wiebe just before she tore down her booth. She's raising money for MCC by arranging a bike ride on this tandem bike, where she and her husband Dave will bike 2007 miles in 2007 -- from May 28 through July 2. They are accepting donations, either by the mile or various lump sums, with the proceeds allowing MCC to buy 126 bicycles for people with needs in Zambia, Kenya, and Uganda. Contact the Wiebes at 316-284-0578 to pledge or for more information! |  |
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While the annual "House Against Hunger" is usually built from the ground up by many volunteers, the new one already almost complete, thanks to a generous donation by Don Schrag. Originally building it as his own dream home for his retirement years, he decided to donated it to MCC instead, making it the 2008 "House Against Hunger." |
Sorry it took so long to get this here; I was experiencing some E-Mail issues getting this sent to me:
Preliminary Sale Results - Press ReleaseUnseasonable snow led to an unexpected outcome for the 39th annual Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale April 13 & 14 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas, with $388,000 raised to benefit Mennonite Central Committee-a world relief organization. "In spite of the Kansas weather, the 39th annual KMRS was a blessing and did very well," said Rod Chrystie of rural Hutchinson, KMRS sale chair. "While we did not set any attendance records, the brave came out Friday in the snow and had the faith to join us again on Saturday for a wonderful time together. "A big thanks to all who came and made what could have looked like a disaster into a real success." The quilt auction totaled $127,324-an increase for last year's total of $98,000. There were 27 of the 200 plus quilts that sold for over $1,000. Ruth Vogt of Hesston, KMRS quilt committee co-chair, said, "Our quilts sold very well. We had very quality hand stitched quilts on this year's auction." The general auction raised $49,244.75 with the following feature items raising:
Other notable totals include:
Last year, KMRS donated $370,000 to MCC. The 40th annual KMRS is scheduled April 11 & 12, 2008 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson. For more information about this year's sale and updates on next year's sale, log on to http://kansas.mccsale.org. |
Live coverage by David Godshall, NØLQU, kansas@mccsale.org