| Note: this is an archive of the old 2009 Sale pages. Click Here for the newest pages. |
| Now Started! |
Between updates, you can also enjoy Last Year's Live Coverage |
Now Started! |
[Start with the newest entry (at the bottom)]
This page will be updated regularly during the sale with the latest news and pictures. 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 16-17, 2010). 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 or time, 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 Mennonite Relief Sale 2009! I'm getting things set up here and will shortly go around taking some pictures of the setup process. The sale kicks into full swing by 4pm and will continue into the evening. Hope you can make it here tonight or tomorrow!
I'm back from taking some pictures, here are a few quick ones to get us started!
| Some of the hundreds of quilts on racks waiting for the Quilt Auction to start tomorrow morning. |
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Ten Thousand Villages |
The sale has started! Come on down if you're not here already!
Okay, back to the next set of pictures...
| At Plants and Things, Tim Unruh of Hillsboro and Carol Eck of Hesston and a dozen other volunteers get the plants all ready for the public |
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Matt Schmidt of Newton is back again with a whole new slew of items to bid on in the Silent Auction. He pointed out a late addition, a KU Basketball signed by members of the 2006-2007 team, which would include most of the members of their National Championship team. Also pictured is an Early Pitcher set from the late 1800's. |
| Archie, Kristin, and Katy Schmidt, of Peabody, look at one of the marble rollers at this year's sale. Also pictured are some other items from among the hundreds of items in the General Auction. |
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Here's one more set of pictures that I took before the sale started, then I need to go out and get some supper and take a few more pictures.
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Michelle Cross of Buhler and Terri Daugherty of Hutchinson get books and craft items priced to get ready for the visitors at the Kansas Crafts booth. |
| Pictured every year, my good friend Nick Mosley, who comes down every year from Littleton/Denver Colorado with his family to help raise money for the sale. |
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At the Quilter's Corner, Carol Unruh Ingenthron of Topeka helps prepare the wonderful pieces of cloth and items prized by quilters for their next projects. |
| The Breads, Rolls, Pies, and Pastries booth always looks so good and plentiful before the sale starts! It will end up looking barren by the end of the sale as all these delectable morsels get taken home. Make sure you get yours! |
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Okay, I'm ready to get out there again, take some more pictures, and get
some wonderful food in my belly. Verenika with Ham Gravy, Cherry Moos,
Sausage, Borscht soup...
I'll be back in about an hour or a little longer.
I'm back from supper, full, and with a memory card full of pictures. Bear with me while I start processing it all... the verenika and sausage, that is, as well as the pictures.
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The Iron Junktion was here again, but with much fewer items. Could it be they are finally running out? Still some neat stuff here to try to figure out! | ||||||||||||||
| Jim Unruh of Hutchinson helps various kids help him in the Penny Power challenge. A vat of coins and a counting machine help this rake in tens of thousands of dollars for MCC. |
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When I passed through the Meadowlark Building on the way to supper, I got on a ladder to take a picture of the crowds. People here for food, MCC caps and yardsticks, bread, browsing the quilts, and waiting for the music program to start. | ||||||||||||||
Here's my last update from the sale before I pack up my things and head home. I'll do one more update from home, with some additional pictures, then I'll be up early Saturday morning to come out here and get the "Big Day" started!
| "German Swiss Anabaptist Mennonite MCC Kettle Corn" prepared for you by Loren Reusser. This is one of two Kettle Corn wagons around the Meadowlark Building. |
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There was a long line for the Feeding the Multitudes supper, which is normal. But the line moves fast, and for those who don't want to wait for the "everything" meal, food is also available piecemeal in other buildings, to eat there or take home. I included a rare photo of myself, by popular demand. |
| Inside you can see why the line moves to fast. Many volunteers in many serving lines. Here we see Brooke Eitzen of Hesston serving Verenika, Amber Knowles of Hutchinson covering it with gravy, Keith Schrag on Moundridge with the Bohne Beroggi, and Naomi Watts and Rod Loucks in gthe middle of a shift change at the relishes (celery, carrots, pickles). |
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I'm home, and here is my last update for Friday. I have some more pictures, but I need to get a good night's sleep to get a fresh start tomorrow. See you at the sale tomorrow!
| Here's the meal I enjoyed: Verenika with Ham Gravy, Sausage, Cherry Moos, Borscht soup, Zwieback bread, and relish. |
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After the meal, I slipped around back to see where they were preparing the
food. I found the MCC Borscht Buggy and a couple large trailers full of
people: The Verenika trailer full of people from... oops, I left my notes
at the sale, so I'll come back and fill in the name of the church tomorrow...
and another trailer with people cutting and cooking the sausages.
[Saturday 2:45pm] I'm back, better late than never. The Verenika workers were from the Hesston Mennonite Bretheren Church, and the Sausage workers were Phyllis Goertzen, Jim Schmidt, and Dianna Schmidt, all of Goessel, and Wiesie Guhr of Versailles, Missouri. The man in the back cooking the sausages is Dale Alderfer of Goessel. |
Good morning! I'm about to leave the house to go back to the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale for a full fun-packed day! Remember the auctions start at 8:45am, and there is a great pancake breakfast open before then, as well as the many other booths and buildings. I'll post more pictures once I get there in about an hour. See you then!
I'm here and set up and about to go get some breakfast and take some new pictures for the Live Update. The weather's nice -- the rain they were calling for yesterday didn't happen until night, so the ground's a bit wet but the sun is shining and there's no rain right now! They are calling for rain later in the morning or afternoon, but what do they know? In any case, get down here early and beat the rain!
I'm off to get my pancakes and sausages now...
| Rod Chrystie welcomes everyone to the Quilt Auction, kicking off another great annual event. I'll be posting the prices quilts are selling for in the Quilt Gallery from time to time as I get updates, for the benefit of those of you who can't make it (what's your excuse?) or to look at after you get home from the sale. |
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The annual pancake breakfast has been brought to you at the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale for 29 years by the Buhler Mennonite Church. Here are Renetta Kroeker and Della Dirks collecting the $5 donation and giving out the tableware, as well as Caitlin Gehing and Bonnie Smith serving up pancakes. Also on the menu but not pictured here was eggs and sausage, as well as coffee and/or orange juice. |
| On the way back from breakfast I passed the Domestic Arts Building -- here's a sign of what's inside (I'll get inside for some pictures real soon). I also passed the people mover vehicle anyone can ride to get between the buildings. |
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Some of the people participating in the Quilt Auction. |
I've run out of pictures, so it's time to go around taking some more! Be back in about an hour.
A little delay as I dealt with a technical issue preventing me from getting the quilt prices updated, but now I'm ready to go take those pictures I promised. Seven quilts have sold for over $1,000 so far, and one (almost two) for $2,000. Good start!
I'm back! Let me process some pictures and update the quilt prices (highest quilt now went for $6,100, had another at $4,400, three in the $3,000's, and over 15 in the $1,000-$2,000 range) and I'll post pictures in the next several entries.
| It always smells good to walk by the Chicken BBQ pit outside the Sunflower South building. I always miss getting some though, due to the lines and timing of when I'm out and about, but I'm really going to try this year! |
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While out and about, I decided to actually take a ride on the Big Slide instead of just taking pictures of it. Whee! It was fun! Okay, so you can't actually see me, it's hard to take a picture of yourself while on the Big Slide. |
| A bunch of churches get together to make the New Years Cookies, with Victoria Rosiere and Laura Miller pictured here filling containers with finished cookies, ready to sell. |
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There are also traditional cookies, including Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodles, Whoopie Pies, and more. Got Milk? |
So many pictures, so little time! I'm also eating my BBQ Chicken lunch, so bear with me as I work on my new update.
I started going through the pictures of the Domestic Arts Building before I was interrupted by hunger. Here's the rest of them:
| Kathleen Neff demonstrates the art of "Pysanka" -- Ukrainian Egg Painting. These eggs are exquisite, and a number of them are available for sale to benefit the sale. New this year, Grace Adams of Nebraska donated a number of larger decorated Goose Eggs for sale. The last egg pictures, the single egg in the glass, is one of those goose eggs. |
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Gilbert Schroeder and Tim Spicer of Buhler man the Caps Booth. This booth was started a number of years ago by Richard Schroeder and is a popular addition to the sale. |
| At the Cheese booth, Clara Miller helps one customer, while Kristin Yoder and Sarah Beachy help another one. |
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| Dave and Sena Osborne of Hesston are happy to have their daughter Hanna and grandson Malachi over to visit and enjoy the sale. |
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I realized I missed posting the pictures I took yesterday of the Kids Area in the Pride of Kansas building. Here are those pictures! Incidentally, in the dunk tank, you can tell Katie Graber of Prettie Prairie knows she is just a split second away from another dunking! |
The Quilt Auction finally finished right at 3pm, a little longer than usual, and the Surplus Auction has begun. Anything left over that didn't sell at the various booths and buildings gets sold here, sometimes for a real steal!
While we wait for the official results, I can say that the Quilt Auction appears to have raised over $130,000 this year! The highest selling quilt went for $7,100! Rough attendance figures, based on cars parked, are 8336 people Friday, and 8616 Saturday.
I will take a couple pictures of the Surplus Auction and then head home. I'll post the last photos from there, and when I get the official results (in a day or two), I'll post them here as well.
I'm home, after a tiring but hugely successful sale! I've got some more pictures to process, but right now I'm going to take a rest... maybe even a nap. I'll be back later with those pictures.
Incidentally, I goofed (tired?) just before leaving the sale grounds and accidentally replaced the sale home page with the quilt gallery page -- so if you tried to bring up the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale home page in the past hour or so and instead got a broken quilt gallery without photos, I apologize for that!
I ended up having a nap, and a longer one than I expected. Here (finally, a day later) are those pictures I promised. Looks like the main pictures I missed posting earlier were from the three auctions:
| General Auction |
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Quilt Auction |
| Surplus Auction |
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KMRS publicity chair
publicity@kansas.mccsale.org
620-345-3088
620-747-0558 (cell)
www.kansas.mccsale.org
Press Release
A surprisingly beautiful weekend full of generous giving equaled a successful 41st Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale raising $433,388 for Mennonite Central Committee-up a little over $39,000 from last year's sale.
"We are so very grateful for the crowds that joined us for a wonderful time," said Rod Chrystie, Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale chair.
"We're pleased with the response and the heart of giving by our guests during hard economic times. We dedicate these funds to MCC and their efforts to help the needy around the world as they strive to care in the name of Christ."
The quilt auction rose a little over $130,000 up from $113,000 last year. There were 34 of the 225 plus quilts that sold for $1,000 or more. The top selling quilts were "Pinwheels in the Garden" made by Jennifer Harms and Judi Harms, Wichita, and quilted by Margaret Flaming, Corn, Okla., for $7,100 and "Tennessee Waltz (with a twist)" made by Kimberly Funk, Canton, quilted by Alice Funk, Newton, and donated by Tabor Mennonite Church, rural Newton, for $6,100.
The general auction also exceeded last year's totals raising $57,791.50 on Friday and Saturday. The top selling items at the auction were the 1930 Model A Ford Coupe at $10,500, 1951 8N Ford Tractor at $4,100, 1941 Allis Chalmers Tractor at $3,000, and the Hustler FasTrak donated by Excel Industries at $3,800.
Notable totals include: | |||
| Attendance | 18,000 | (approx.) | |
| General Auction | $57,791.50 | ||
| Friday | $3,745.75 | ||
| Saturday | $54,123.50 | ||
| Quilt Auction | $130,000.00 | (approx.) | |
| Silent Auction | $3,000.00 | (approx.) | |
| Children's Auction | $1,042.00 | ||
| Children's Activities | $4,120.50 | ||
| Penny Power | $22,723.50 | ||
| Feeding The Multitude | $32,822.33 | with 5,200 guests | |
| Ten Thousand Villages | $18,497.00 | ||
| 12th Run for Relief | $17,716.45 | ||
The 41st annual KMRS is scheduled April 16 & 17, 2010 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson. For more information about this year's sale and updates on next year's sale, log on to www.kansas.mccsale.org.
Some additional numbers came in, but I added them to the "Notable totals" section of the entry above.
Live coverage by David Godshall, NØLQU, kansas@mccsale.org
