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Total bear sales top $215,000
This document was published online on Monday, October 06, 2008
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| Auctioneer Rick Westbrook works the crowd during the grizzly auction at the new library Saturday. (Photo by Ken Blackbird) |
The “Grizzly Gathering” auction inside the new library started quickly Saturday with a sale approaching $10,000.
By the end of the 90-minute auction, sales of the 23 painted bears totalled about $190,000. Only one bear sold for less than $4,000; the top bear sold for $31,000.
Including revenue from the earlier silent auction of nine-inch bears and sale of two other big bears, project coordinator Pat Stuart estimated total revenue from bear sales at $216,000.
On Monday she predicted that after a few remaining expenses, including payments to artists, the fundraiser will net about $180,000 to be split between the teen and children's areas of the three Park County libraries.
“When the dust settles and all the bills are paid, that's the number we're seeing,” Stuart added. “And that figure doesn't include the sale of related grizzly retail merchandise, which is ongoing at the library.”
The artists, whose expenses were paid earlier, also were guaranteed $400 for bears that sold for less than $4,000 or 10 percent for bears selling above that mark.
“The artists will receive about $28,000 from the sales,” Stuart said. “They are so excited about the interest and the way the sale went.”
Stuart said the auction exceeded the expectations of the sponsoring Park County Library Board and Park County Library Foundation.
“We made educated guesses as to what the sale might bring, but it was all guess work. We did much better than we thought,” she said. “It's all because of the great support from the community. Their response thrills us.”
Shoshone First Bank (now Wells Fargo) bought the first bear Saturday for more than $8,000.
Then, on bear No. 2, a bidding war ensued for Joy Simpson's “Ursus Horribilis.”
When the bidding was complete, Glenn Borkenhagen of Cody had paid $31,000.
Asked by auctioneer Rick Westbrook for his name and affiliation, the global positioning system consultant gave his name and added, simply, “Cody citizen.”
The capacity crowd of more than 125 - including another 50 people seated outside the new Public Meeting Room and watching and bidding via a remote screen - erupted in applause for him.
“The artists put so much effort into the bears,” he said later. “And the library is such a great cause - it's money well spent.”
Borkenhagen is donating his bear, which was displayed outside Simpson Gallagher Gallery all summer, to the Centered Heart community center at 24th and East Sheridan.
“They were the first ones to ask me, and I didn't have anyone in mind when I bought it,” he said. “They are doing educational work and it's a good community effort and worthwhile cause.”
Fred Bronnenberg, president of Groathouse Construction which managed the library construction project, bought two bears.
“They paid $15,000 for Jane Kellog's ‘Bubba' - the mosiac bear - and also bought Linda Raynold's ‘Summer Stars,'” Stuart said. “And Groathouse is donating both bears back to the library.”
Bill Garlow bought two bears. So did Rebecca and Randall True of Riverside Ranch in Cody. Brother and sister Greg and Lori Meister of Wichita, Kan., bidding by phone, also bought two.
They bought Mary Ringer and Dorci Newman's “Thunderbear” and Ty Barhaug's “This is Grizzly Country.”
“They have a brother in Cody who was in the audience helping them,” Stuart said. “They haven't yet decided what they are going to do with their bears.”
She noted that Thunderbear was the second-highest bear at $16,500.
Stuart said the library board will be deciding where to place its donated bears.
“We have several bears now that we'll place within the county library system,” she said.
Plans also will be developed for improvements to the three childrens/teen libraries, she added.
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