Livermore pie auction sets record for revenue

By Stephen Clearheart Johnson
North Forty News

As the crowd lined up for a dinner of pulled pork and hot wings, all eyes were on the dessert table.

Three dozen homemade pies beckoned for attention. More arrived, some still warm when auctioned. Cherry pies, apple pies, pumpkin pies, pecan, chocolate, peach, chocolate fudge, chocolate cheesecake, French apple, Dutch apple. Even fresh zucchini bread.

The annual Livermore Pie Auction is a fund-raising event hosted by the PTO of the Livermore Elementary School, serving up classic Americana in thick slices.

The crowd was noisy as the auctioneer stepped to the microphone. Some 100 adults and every child for miles around filled the Livermore Community Building as a gentle sunset illuminated the tops of the cottonwoods across the highway where the original town of Livermore was platted, but never realized.

Auctioneer Everrett Schneider of WW Auctions got the crowd's attention immediately by holding up the pie made by the fourth- and fifth-grade girls. There's a contest each year between the boys and the girls. The girls had made a perfect-looking cherry pie. The boys had made a clunky and oversized strawberry-rhubarb.

"Eighty, now 90, now 90, yes! Ninety, now $100, now $100, sold," chanted Schneider as the girls' pie went quickly.

Next up, the boys' pie. "Sold $115," with the boys winning the contest. But the girls had made two pies, the revenue from the second making them the high scorers. Everyone wins at the pie auction.

The delighted crowd left the auction with more than pies, taking home 50 items donated by local residents and businesses. During breaks in the bidding action, raffle tickets pulled at random by schoolgirls brought in $1 per ticket for 40 smaller items, such as dolls, jewelry and a jelly basket.

Three auctioned items, earmarked for the classroom teachers' discretionary use, brought heated bidding as parents wielded their numbered paddles.

The school currently hosts 45 kids organized into three classes. This is down from a high of 78 just two years ago. The sixth-graders were shipped to town schools last year.

Livermore is proud of its kids, said PTO President Cindy Wojtysiak. The Colorado Department of Education this year recognized Livermore as one of the top schools for highest sustained academic growth over three years.

A large basket of gardening goodies brought $125 for the kindergarten and first-grade class. A scrapbooking basket capable of tracking a family for generations brought $85 for second and third grades. Another $85 went to fourth and fifth grades for a basket of family games.

A two-night stay at the posh Saratoga Inn went for $300. A $900 value golf trip to Fox Acres went for $650. A large Navajo rug from an anonymous donor went for a bargain $200. Most pies brought bids from $25 to $65. During one hot bidding session, two schoolgirls sat on the floor by the window well, lost in their own world playing rock/paper/scissors.

The PTO will use the proceeds to purchase books, PE equipment, field trips and computer software for the accelerated reading program, explained Danette Meyer, PTO vice president.

Before the auction, Meyer worried about having to cut the PTO budget, but the evening set a record by raising $8,200, netting some $175 for each child in the school.

Expenses were low. Jim and Julie Dunn of Jim's Wings donated and catered the dinner. They have two daughters in the school. Hall rental cost was low, as the Livermore residents own the building, built on donated land with donated materials and labor.

Terri Turner, a board member of the nonprofit that runs the building, said locals may rent the hall for $100 per night, complete with tables, chairs, kitchen and bathrooms. Out-of-towners, those outside the Livermore zip code, pay more. The facility is used for weddings, reunions, dances and concerts. Rental information is available from Turner at 493-8262.

Every car leaving the lot that night was lighter in the wallet but richer in the heart and tummy.