Children’s Auction finds new home at the Belknap Mall

LACONIA — The 2017 Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction board of directors recently confirmed plans to move the Children’s Auction to the Belknap Mall in December.

With the closure of the Conference Center at Lake Opechee Inn and Spa, the auction found a new location last year at Contigiani’s Conference and Event Center at Pheasant Ridge Golf Club in Gilford. Contigiani’s was able to meet the immediate needs of the auction, however given the size of the auction’s operation, space was a challenge.

“Jim and Bonnie Contigiani were great hosts for the auction and we can’t thank them enough for their partnership and hospitality for last year’s event,” said Sandra Marshall, Children’s Auction board chairman.

In considering a new space that would be large enough, board leaders approached Paige Quigley, general manager of Belknap Mall about the opportunity to host the 2017 auction. Quigley has welcomed the auction to take its operation to the Belknap Mall and will be donating the space to the nonprofit organization for the weeklong event.

“The Wilder Companies and the Belknap Mall are pleased to be a part of the Children’s Auction and are very happy to support this great community cause,” Quigley said.

Belknap Mall offers a large, centrally located space that is already wired appropriately for the auction’s needs. The space inside the mall that will house the auction has yet to be determined.

“We are so excited to be at Belknap Mall for this year’s auction and thank Paige for the opportunity,” Marshall said. “And, in such a convenient location, it’ll be especially nice to see more folks joining in on the fun.”

The board is looking forward to the continued growth and energy of the auction. In its third year as a standalone nonprofit organization, the needs of the community continue to grow and the requests for support grow as well. The goal would be to be able to fund more and more of the community’s needs.

In order to help the all-volunteer board, the decision has been unanimously made to hire an independent contractor to become the executive director/event coordinator of the auction.

“While we have always prided ourselves on our commitment to 100 percent in, 100 percent out, it has become clear that we need a dedicated person to help us grow and build our sponsorship, volunteer base and community involvement,” said Marshall.

Please send resumes or inquiries to Sandra Marshall at smarshall@lrgh.org.