Saxon, Gurney celebrate fall

SAXON, Wis. - More than 50 people spent Saturday night participating in a live auction as part of a the annual Fall Harvest Fundraiser for the Saxon-Gurney Community Presbyterian Church.

Attendees signed up for paddles, and bid on variousitems, including gift certificates, fresh produce, tools, toys, wooden items and homemade wine, pies and other baked goods.

The event started in Gurney "many years ago," Diana Norman, the church's clerk of session, said. In 1956, the event moved from Gurney to Saxon.

When the two Presbyterian churches combined, the event was moved into the basement of the old Saxon School. In 1958, the church was built at the corner of Mill Street and WI-122 in Saxon, and the event was held in the basement.

However, the event got too big and moved to the Saxon Community Center, where it has continued to take place every fall.

According to Norman, the annual auction has become a "family event.

"You see a lot of families, and we see the same faces with some strangers' faces mixed in every now and again," she said.

What makes the event successful, Norman said, is the live-auction formate.

"I think people like the live auction," Norman said. "Some people will pay a small fortune for some small thing, just because it's fun."

Certain items also keep people coming back.

"They come looking for particular things like Sandra Rowe's Dutch apple pie, or my Danish pastries," Norman said. "I come looking for (Sandra's) homemade long johns."

Some baked goods went as high as $24 for a single Danish or package of donuts.

As for future auctionss, Norman said the event is the biggest fundraiser the church does every year, and is thankful for everyone who attended and donated.

"Thank you ever so much," she said. "Without your generosity, this would not happen."