Another Successful “Bob McCarthy’s” Irish Christmas
Another Successful “Bob McCarthy’s” Irish Christmas
A Letter of Thanks from the Rotary Club of Ellicottville
The Virtual Auction held online last Friday night was certainly a great time for all that participated. Bob’s presence was obvious to all for Bob McCarthy’s 16th annual Irish Christmas. The auction started promptly at 7:00pm hosted by Brooks LeFeber of brookslefeberauctions.com along with Jill Dunn and Greg Cappelli from The Rotary Club of Ellicottville.
At a frantic pace the bids started to climb and on all accounts was just a plain fun way to conduct an auction. Current limitations did not hold back some, who arranged their own “friends bubble party” so they could bid against each other in traditional fashion. A small group even gathered at the Silver Fox Steakhouse to ensure that they did not miss out on the great wines donated by Mike and Sally and paired with a McCarthy original birdhouse donated by Edna Northrup. Wouldn’t you know it … Brooke Szpaicher won it at $325.00!
The hit of the auction was the “Dine EVL Basket” which sold for $650 to Doug & Carolyn. While a new Charles Dickens book “A Christmas Carol” did not reach the height of last year’s antique (last year it sold for $525.00), Victor Arena made an $80.00 donation to buy it.
Hugh Dunn’s Live Edge Table sold for a bargain price to a dealer from Portville who knew its true value. The Great Wooden Bow Pie Boxes created by Ed Frederickson, once again were a hot item with both selling to locals. The Traditional Irish Whiskey Basket donated by Cynthia & Mike sold for $350.00 to a very thirsty family.
It was obvious that many of our benefactors opened up their hearts and wallets to support Rotary’s Santa’s workshop and the Santa Sheriff program. The auction brought in just shy of $4,500.00 surpassing expectations. Additionally, a number of generous people chose to donate directly to the Rotary for Santa’s Workshop. These donations normally continue through the end of the year, so we anticipate being very close to reaching our goal. In this crazy year, that is truly amazing.
This year’s event could not have happened without Ed Frederickson, who once again used his creative genius and woodworking skills to put together an array of handmade gems in the Bob tradition for the auction. PandaGoat Media - that is Brenda Perks and Meghan Lucarelli - did a great job on bringing the concept to life with great artwork and promotional material. Heather Sullivan of Heather J Sullivan Consulting worked her magic with the website and Facebook and kept the event and the rest of us on track. Brooks LeFeber hosting the auction made the event a lot of fun, doing his impression of Dan Aykroyd in his Trading Places Santa suit. We hope we can go back to EBC for a live auction next year, so Brooks can show off his stuff live.
As is always the case, our great local publications, EllicottvilleNOW and The Villager went above and beyond promoting the event, we appreciate their unquestioned support, year after year.
A special thanks to Katy Arena of Katy’s Café & Katy’s Fly-In who worked with Ellicottville’s local bakers (too many to thank but you know who you are) whose special desserts are done as a tribute to their friend Bob and this tradition. We do have to mention Chef Tom Kneeland, Katy Arena and Annie Coe of Cupcaked who created some outstanding desserts. We thank the many local businesses who hosted the auction items and promoted the event on our behalf. Thank you to our great restaurant partners who donated a gift card for the Dine Ellicottville Basket.
When asked how this started, McCarthy would answer, “It started with a little magic”. To be sure the magic came in the form of Ellicottville’s residents, both permanent and part-timers who bid or donated to the cause. The real magic is that this event is helping a number of local families have a better Christmas through Santa’s Workshop, which this year has helped 31 families / 81 individuals. Rotary also makes a donation to help the Santa Sheriff program. If you want to donate, please send a check to Rotary Foundation, PO Box 101, Ellicottville, NY 14731 or online at ellicottvillerotary.com.
Bob, we all miss you but we will continue your tradition of giving. The Rotary Club of Ellicottville wishes all of you a great holiday season - Thank you Ellicottville!
- The Rotary Club of Ellicottville