SAMOA

The Proverbial White Elephant

   It is that time of year again! A time where you have had a little under a month to get rid of your Christmas tree, take down your lights, and add any fun Mini parts Santa brought you. Now that all of that is taken care of you can focus on the task at hand, “SAMOA’s White Elephant Sale”. This has to be one of the clubs premiere meetings/events of the year. Although it really isn’t a sale, but more an auction (more on that later).

   The WES brings people from Oregon, Washington, and Canada on a yearly basis. That is a long drive for some and it shows you just how popular it is. This is also a full functioning club meeting for the month of January where club officials are nominated and elected. This is also a goodtime for you to pay your dues in person! This is also a great opportunity to look at a very large gathering of minis. Last year Uncle Al brought his very cherry Mk II Cooper S and it was a crowd pleaser. There are two types of auctions taking place. The first one is a silent auction. People are allowed to look at the lovely items donated by vendors, members and or guests. With each item there is a blank piece of lined paper. You may enter in the price you are willing to pay for the item during the allotted time. Once time runs out and if you have bid the highest you win! There is no restriction on how many times you bid just as long as it is within the time period. Hungry? Thirsty? don’t fret! The club provides sustenance and beverages for the masses. You will need it once the bidding wars start. (see below).

   The verbal part of the auction is where all the action is. The idea is to donate or bring Mini type items wrapped up in paper, bag and or a box. This makes the item a mystery and difficult to guess what it is. This is the fun part. Our appointed auctioneer will then start accepting bids on said packages. The usual starting bid is pretty low $1-$2 dollar range unless he or she feels the item is worth more. Let the games begin! Everyone has a chance to bid verbally and bid often. Some favorite bidding prices are $8.50 /$10.00 /$12.75 / $13.80. If nobody out bids your offer you win the package and can immediately open it. In the past there have been some really great items and some not so great, but the main idea is to have fun and raise money for the club. During the auction a club member will record your bid and tally up your bill, but wait there is more! If you spend the most money you will win the “Big Spender Award”. A highly coveted trophy that you get to keep for the entire year. It has a list of engraved past winners or losers (depends on how you look at it). This is a great added bonus! We hope to see you there!   

If you are bringing gifts here are some tips:

• Wrap your gift so that it will remain a mystery to others.
• Mums the word on who it is from!
• You can make what I like to call a “Trojan Horse”. Pretty packaging for a not so pretty item. Or an ugly package for something worth while.
• Have fun and bid often.