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Library auction exceeds expectations

The weather was perfect for one of the most popular events of the year here. The final tally is not yet in, but it seems, curiously, that the D.M. Hunt Library’s annual auction Saturday night attracted fewer people than last year but likely raised more money.

“The bidding was vigorous,� said Sharon Hamilton, who chaired the library’s auction committee. “There were between 130 and 145 people but I’m fairly certain we did better than last year.�

Along with An Evening of Words and Music at Music Mountain (Sept. 27 this year), Hunt’s Homegrown Plant and Books Sale, and Chocolate in the Village, the auction is a major fundraising machine for the library, typically accounting for 15 percent of its operating budget. Last year, the auction attracted about 180 people.

Under the tent, this year’s auctioneer was author and longtime Falls Village resident Betsy Howie, whom Hamilton described as “very lively and entertaining.�

The list of live items included a visit to Lime Rock Park with “hot laps� of the track in the pace car, a one-hour aerial tour of the area with Bob Giumarro in his Piper Archer four-seater plane and lunch for 10 in the conservatory of famous interior designer Bunny Williams’ 18th-century home.

The successful bidder on the airplane ride was a grandfather who wanted to make his grandson’s dream come true. Not long before the auction, the grandson confided to his elder that he longed to ride in an airplane, Hamilton said.

Major sponsors included John Harney Associates, Century Aggregates, C.A. Lindell & Son and Salisbury Bank & Trust. The event was catered by Freund’s Farm Market and Bakery in East Canaan. All were encouraged to put up signage advertising their philanthropy. Century did not have a sign, so Greg Marlowe, general manager of the Sand Road quarry, engineered a makeshift billboard by parking a Century dump truck across the street.

Hamilton thanked the rest of the auction committee, including Candice McRee, Mary Elling, Zoe Fedorjaczenko, Erica Joncyk, Garth Kobal and Ruth Giumarro.

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