We pulled it off. We had the Tiffin Art Guild Fundraiser art auction yesterday, in the 95 degree heat. The venue is terrific. It is a large lot with water fountains among huge glacial erratic boulders and wide expanses of white coarse gravel walkways. In the middle is a large three-room antique historic red depot. It was once the Mad River and Sandusky R.R. depot here in Tiffin OH. It was boarded up long ago when they ripped out the rails and built new depots a few hundred yards away along the old B&O Railroad. It fell into decay until Larry Breidenbach, a local painting business owner, purchased and renovated the property. Now he keeps it in great shape and rents it for graduation parties, wedding celebrations and events like ours. It is on the state and national registers of historic places.



I worked a month and a half on this event. Everything had to get done and nobody stepped forward at the Guild. So I organized a committee, handed out assignments, and held little progress meetings down at Bailiwick's Coffee House about once a week. I did all the graphics, the PR, the letters and emails, and went out prospecting for sponsors (we have to raise $100 each from businesses, etc. before we have any cash to work with, for advertising, refreshment costs, materials, posters, etc.) To make it short, on Saturday when the place was set-up and all the art we would auction was safe inside the depot building, I was already in the initial state of physical collapse.

A home bath with Epson salts and two martinis took care of that.

Sunday morning I was on site at 7 a.m. We started the auction at noon. It was 94F then! UGH.

Anyway, after the bash we calculated raising about $3300 for our next year's Guild efforts. Not bad.

Then we did the "load out," cleaned up, went home.

I took another Epson bath, skipped the martinis and tried to ease my foot cramps.

I just had to remain awake until 10 p.m. to watch the final season episode of MAD MEN.