Door County Folk Festival / Door County Contra Dance Weekend
Silent Auction Benefit for Work Scholar Fund
(We Welcome Donations of Articles in Need of a New Home)

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The Silent Auction
The DCFF has held a Silent Auction so that participants and "Friends of the Festival" can donate all sorts of interesting items in order to support the twelve (12) Work Scholars required for the Festival's Administrative Staff. Auction proceeds have subsidized up to five (5) Work Scholars. We'd like your help in increasing that number this year. Recently, interest has increased and there have been over 100 items placed in the auction. You can find some great items at bargain prices.  

Background
Like many other DCFF activities, the Silent Auction originated with a suggestion from a participant. Marilyn Bergstrom, a dancer in Chicago, donated her Bulgarian costume to the Festival and suggested that we raffle it off to raise money for scholarships. Taking that concept a step further, the planners recognized the potential to broaden the scope of participation to include others. Thus, the DCFF Silent Auction idea was conceived as a way to:

  • provide a means for donors to contribute to the Festival promote recycling within the community help folks find things that they can use add another activity that promotes interaction and conversation between participants
  • raise money for the work scholarship fund

How Do I Make a Donation?
Check your closets, cabinets, attics, bookshelves, etc. for ethnic and folk related things that you no longer use. Do some "Spring Cleaning" and donate items that are still serviceable, wearable, usable, etc. The silent auction is a way to help these items find a new life in a new home. Articles for the auction can include ethnic clothing, shoes and accessories, items related to ethnic dance, music or singing, international travel, ethnic cultures, foreign languages, music collections, dance notes/descriptions, etc.

  • Please complete an Auction Form for each donated item including donor name (required), item description and suggested minimum bid. There is a short form and a long form (for items that will have a lot of bids). You can download this pdf form from:
  • Donors attending the Festival should bring their items to the Auction Manager at Baileys Harbor Town Hall
  • Donors unable to attend the Festival should make prior shipping or drop-off arrangements with the Auction Manager

What Do I Donate?
One never knows what participants, will find interesting, exciting, and/or desirable. Each year people donate lots of items and the bidding ranges all over the place - sometimes high, sometimes low. Auction items in past years have included ethnic costumes, a 20-plus year collection of Viltis (Folklore/Folk Dance Magazine), dance records, tapes and CD's, new and used dance clothing, T-shirts from other dance workshops/camps, new and like-new dance footwear including Opanki (Balkan footwear), cell phones, travel books, grass mats, herbal teas, jewelry, hand strung beads, wall hanging, paintings and small costumed dolls. The variety of items seems to meet the interests and needs of the auction participants, especially the regulars, who seem to sense that they will discover "something special". Check your closets, corners and storage areas for forgotten "treasures" and donate them to the DCFF Silent Auction.

How Does the Auction Work?

  • During registration on Thursday, the items are put on display.
  • Bidding for the silent auction opens during the Thursday night party.
  • During the weekend, new items are continuously added and put out for bid (until Sat afternoon), so check often and bid generously.
  • Bidding begins at the suggested minimum bid and may be increased by full dollar amounts only. There are no penny raises.
  • Browse the Auction and bid generously on newly discovered treasures!
  • The auction closes at the Saturday night party at 11:00pm.
  • Highly contested items will be setup for "blind bidding", meaning that the bidders put down what they are willing to pay for such an item. Blind bids will be kept sealed until end of auction. The highest bidder may then purchase the item.
  • The auction manager will review the bid sheets and certify the last entry and highest bidder of each item as the winner.
  • Auction Winners please claim and pay for all of your winning-bid items after the auction has closed
  • Donors please re-claim all non-bid items after the auction has closed

Contact Information
To donate items or for additional information, the Auction Coordinator - Mercedes: , (262)-632-2986