Quilt auction like a three-ring circus, only more fun and for a good cause
Mennonite Relief Sale, in its 52nd year, provides taste of down-home experience
NEW HAMBURG — The bidding was getting heated for the small, beautifully made wall quilt by master quilter Renske Helmuth, of Moorefield.
The frenzied watcher, whose job was to spot bidders in the audience, narrowed the serious bidders down to two and both were determined that this little quilt, not much bigger than a hand towel, was theirs.
He pointed at one, and when the nod of approval was given, he bellowed “YA YA” to the auctioneer before looking back to the bidding competitor to see if another bid was coming.
The crowd went wild, cheering, groaning, cheering again every time the ante was upped. It was like some kind of revival meeting and the bidders were out for blood. Or more accurately, they wanted that quilt, at any cost — $1,000, $2,500, $5,000, the watcher’s arms a blur of activity until he looked more like he was directing aircraft on a runway than identifying auction bids.
The winning bid was a cool $6,600 for the piece, entitled “Waterloo County Aerial View.”
The auction spectacle was exhausting to watch, but then that’s the fun of the annual Mennonite Relief Sale quilt auction, which attracts thousands of bidders every year. You just never know what’s going to happen.
The auctioning of 200 donated quilts, with quaint names such as “Funkydoodles,” “Wistful” and “Colour My World,” are just part of this unique festival in New Hamburg that runs the last Friday and Saturday in May.
It features a fun run, pancake breakfast, barbecue dinner, outdoor auction and even a children’s auction — as well as plant (very popular this year) and craft sales.
Now in its 52nd year, the event raises on average $300,000, money used to support the
Mennonite Central Committee’s relief work around the world and in Canada.
John Head, executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, said he is consistently amazed at the 2,000 volunteers who make the event possible — from the quilters who spend hours stitching quilts to the youth directing traffic onto the New Hamburg fairgrounds.
Everyone is there for a single purpose: doing their part to make the world a better place, whether it’s helping hurricane victims in Cuba or handing out gardening kits to Indigenous communities in Canada’s Far North.
“Every year I sit back and look at everyone working together,” Head said. “It’s inspirational.”
Since the event started in 1967, a total of $16 million has been raised, and Head said every cent is used for projects.
Bianca Azzoparde of Waterloo was at the event with her three children and mother, Cindy Douma.
“It was something to do with Grandma,” Azzoparde said of the family-friendly event. And both women admitted that one of the draws was the food.
“All we’ve done today is eat,” Douma said.
Azzoparde added that “food is important and so is the MCC. We watch what they do for humanitarian aid.”
Azzoparde’s daughter, 15-yearold Hailey, recently started volunteering for the MCC’s thrift shop in New Hamburg, and it’s been eye-opening for the teen.
“There’s a lot of stuff they do, I researched it before I started,” she said, to which her grandmother responded, “It’s important work.”
Despite the 10,000 to 12,000 people who show up for the event every year, there have been shifts in what visitors are seeking, said John Reimer, chair of the relief sale.
Over the past 10 years, the popularity of the quilt auction has waned and organizers have not enjoyed the $40,000 bids of a few years ago, he said.
The loss, however, has been balanced out with proceeds coming in from other areas, such as the late 1950s TO-35 Ferguson Deluxe vintage tractor that had been donated by Home of Spare Parts near Amulree and refurbished by the Breakfast Club, a group of retirees who spent the winter fixing up the old tractor.
The club has donated half a dozen such tractors over the years.
“They spent every weekend getting it working,” Reimer said. “We thought we’d get $5,000 for it.”
The winning bid was $7,500, and he said the Breakfast Club’s members were justifiably proud of their hard work.
The tractor is just one example of how the community has always embraced this event, and Reimer said he is beginning to see even more community members outside the Mennonite faith reaching out to help and offer ideas, such as hanging the quilts in downtown businesses prior to the event as a promotion.
“It’s becoming communitywide,” he said. “Maybe we can make it a larger thing.”
After their June wrap-up meeting, the committee won’t reconvene until September, when the group will start planning for the 53rd annual event in 2019 — and it might look a bit different than this year’s festival.
“There is some sense it’s a transitional thing happening,” Reimer said.