Saturday, Aug. 1 at 11 a.m.—BRANDON— Due to the Covid-19 issues, Brandon Chamber of Commerces’s 32nd annual Great Brandon Auction will be taking place in a non-traditional way this year. The organizers have had to think outside the tent and decided to move into a downtown storefront!
With the kind donation from Heather and John Bierschenk, the auction is allowed to use the former Brown’s Gift Shop location at 6 Park St. to set up a two-week inside auction sales event. This will be manned by volunteers 4-5 hours per day from Aug. 1-15. There will be various ways to purchase items in the auction. Most gift certificates, new items, original art and “high ticket” items will be handled through a silent auction, where bidders keep track of items they’re interested in and update their bids on a regular basis. Other merchandise will be also be part of the silent auction, but they will also have a “buy it now” amount listed so the item can be purchased immediately.
Organizers are excited about this new effort and hope to be able to minimize any financial hit the Chamber would have taken if no auction happened at all.
In past years, some lucky person has gone home with $500-$800 from the popular 50/50 Nancy Leary-led effort and this year will be no different! But they’re going to run the 50/50 from July to October so the pot should be massive for the winner.
While it is a huge change from the 31 auctions past, organizers hope it will continue to be a huge success in this bizarre time.
The idea for the annual Great Brandon Auction was first pitched to the Chamber of Commerce in 1989 and it has grown into a popular summer event. The auction raises funds for Chamber member support and development projects in Brandon.
Brandon is a very generous community and the inside auction will be overflowing with items large and small. It takes about 50 volunteers to turn this new style of an auction into a success and they are on-board and ready to work. They do charge sales tax of 7% on all purchases except gift certificates and clothes so if you are a re-sellers should bring their tax number.
Hours for the Great Brandon Auction Inside Instead! are Mon.-Wed,11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thur.-Fri.11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 1-15.
