BP Ed Foundation breaks auction record

Mother Nature threw the first – then the second – punch over the weekend, but the knockout went to the Blooming Prairie Education Foundation.

The group’s annual fundraising auction raised a record-breaking $95,500, crushing the nearly 10-year-old record by more than $12,000.

“After the phone call that morning, the whole rest of the day was kind of a blur,” said Karen Fouarge, foundation president.

The phone call – which came about 5:45 a.m. Saturday – was bad news: The big tent, which holds hundreds of people, in addition to the hundreds of auction items, had collapsed.

The wet, heavy snow that fell overnight took its toll.

“There was just no way we could” set it back up, Fouarge said, “because it takes special equipment to get the poles up. I didn’t know what to do.”

Enter Tony Lea, co-owner of the Pizza Cellar and Blooming Prairie Cue Company. The auction had been held there in years past, but Saturday morning, the largest space was full of pool tables.

“Tony said, ‘I just need a cart to roll them on,’ and we were able to come up with four carts,” Fouarge said, and the tables were moved out of the way.

Then it was just a matter of bringing in picnic tables, creating a makeshift stage – which was buried under the tent – and finally, setting up the auction items.

“It’s such a great committee,” Fouarge said. “We came together and made it work. It was probably all set up and ready to go by 11” for the 2 p.m. opening of the doors.

“I just thank God no one was under the tent when it went down,” she said. “At least we had some guardian angels looking after us.”

The “First Pick of the Auction” winner was Jason Johnson, of Blooming Prairie, who chose the 14kw backup generator.

“And the people who donated the generator were so generous,” Fouarge said, “that they actually donated another one that night, and that went for, I think, over $6,000.”

The generators were donated by Craig and Melissa Schammel of Schammel Electric, LLC.

Piper the Pig, a piggy bank that made the rounds of BP businesses, was auctioned off four or five times, Fouarge said, “and that ended up making somewhere around $2,500. They were buying it, and they’d turn around and say, ‘oh, auction it off again.’ Nobody even knew how much was in it before reselling it.”

The person who ended up with Piper at the end of the live auction found $429 inside.

Of the 176 auction books sold for that auction, “122 of those (bidders) actually went home with something,” said Lori Arndt, treasurer of the ed foundation.

She had the privilege of tallying up the record-breaking total.

“John Bruns keeps a running total on a spreadsheet” during the live auction, Arndt said, “so we knew we were at $83,300 that night before we even left.”

That didn’t include the $5,000 collected from “First Pick” tickets, or the raffle prizes, “so we also knew we were in the 90s before we even counted. It’s pretty cool.”

The BP Ed Foundation’s budget is based solely on the proceeds of this event.

The group’s mission is “to enhance the educational opportunities for the students” of the Blooming Prairie School District through various means, including filling teacher “wish lists,” scholarships, technology upgrades and most recently, purchasing a grand piano for the new performing arts center.

Fouarge was “happy and relieved” despite the stressful start of the day.

“Actually, I didn’t even really come out of my haze” until Sunday evening, she said. “Then Lori texted me and said, ‘are you ready?’ She texted me the number, and I started crying.

“Now I can rest for a while,” Fouarge said. “We’ll have the wrap-up meeting next week and get everything finalized, and we’ll be ready to go for next year’s auction.”