What a weekend!

Well, we had the library lallapalooza. THIRTY people volunteered! it was amazing. People walked in the door during the event and said, "What can I do to help?" It was great. A couple people who'd said they were going to come weren't able to make it (the flu), but a whole lot more who hadn't let us know showed up, so we certainly weren't short-handed.

We earned better than $5,600!

Hodgepodge the Patchwork Chinese Dragon was draped about the room and helped muffle the echoes, and so the sound quality was better than in previous years. There was a definite food theme to the auction this year: we had gift certificates from Wendy's, a spice basket, lots of coffee (College Coffeehouse, Alaska Coffee Roasting Company, North Pole Coffee) and coffee mugs and teacups, a certificate for a gourmet dinner for six made by the Ester Fire Department's station manager Tori Clyde, and some Russian laquered spoons and carved wooden mugs.

There were lots of good books, too, including one by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (yes, that Bulwer-Lytton): Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings. Although, given the author, I'm not sure "good" is the right adjective in this particular case. But there were Alaska books and cartoon books (and a cartoonist) and kids' books (Chérie Stihler was there signing her books).

And we had a couple of bidding wars. The best, however, was for a bumper sticker from the original Ester Howling Dog Saloon. We filled up an entire bid sheet and it finally sold for $60. There was some fierce competition among three or four bidders for it, but now it hangs behind the bar at the Golden Eagle.

The lasagne feed was amazing: great salads and lasagnes and a lot of chocolate desserts. We had South African wines from David Stone for auction and a huge donation from Gold Hill Liquor of wines, some of which were auctioned and some used for beverages. Mary Ireland donated plates and utensils and these great colorful plastic cups (I didn't know they came in pink!), and Gerry Nordmann coordinated the whole food table.

Many of the volunteers hadn't worked on the lallapalooza before, and I was impressed by their energy and just how well we all did. Melinda Harris coordinated the auction, Gerry was the sustenance czar, Mary was a general dogsbody and floater, Al Klek and Mike were tote-and-haul guys, Birch Pavelsky was a greeter, Cécile Lardon and Rachelle Dowdy helped man the pay table, Hillary Schafer of the Golden Eagle made coffee, and even a couple of little kids, Tala and Cole Ireland, were a big help in putting up signs and helping out their grandma. And then there were a ton of people who had done it before, of course: Oliver and Margaret Rogers, Hans and me, Kate Billington, Mali Noreen, Judie Gumm. I can't even remember everybody (I'm still sort of recovering from it).

It went smoothly in comparison to previous years, the music was great, and people seemed to have a good time.

And that's the important thing!