Children's Auction magic returned for 40th fundraiser

TILTON — Jaimie Sousa didn’t know what to expect for the 40th Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction. Last year’s fundraiser garnered $435,809, a good ways short of the 2019 figure but still considered a success due to the considerable adaptations necessary to hold the event in the midst of a pandemic.

This year, there were early indications that they’d do better than last year, Sousa said.

“I knew partway through the week that we were doing well, but I could have had no idea,” where they ended up: $583,752, just a stone’s throw from the mark of $600,032 set in 2019.

“It was better than I could have ever anticipated, in terms of the excitement and the funds raised, it was beyond belief,” said Sousa, chair of the Auction’s board of directors. “We are so excited.”

There were many reasons for the board members and other volunteers to have tempered expectations. The auction was able to go back to a usual mode of operations this year, despite ongoing pandemic concerns. The auction’s prospects might have been affected by the curtailed operations of 2020, which were held on a closed set at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. And finally, the auction was taking place at a new location, in a storefront at the Tanger Outlets.

That the auction overcame all of those was proof of what some might call the auction’s magic, said Sousa, the positive feedback loop between the people putting on the auction and those placing bids from wherever they were.

“I think people were looking for some sense of normalcy,” Sousa said. It was important to find a way to put on an auction last year, but it didn’t have the same atmosphere that has come to define the week-long Lakes Region tradition. “We had a very small cast of faces you could see at the auction. It was nice and really exciting to be able to do something last year, but it isn’t the same as having all these personalities to laugh and joke with each other, and to have the Lakes Region community come together.”

“I think you can feel that kind of energy while watching from home, and it was reciprocal. We could see the overbids on the board,” Sousa said, referring to the phenomenon of bidders going over the stated value of the item, sometimes significantly so. In one case this year, a membership to the Laconia Country Club, normally valued at $5,000, sold for $40,000.

“It’s like we’re feeding the bidders, and they’re feeding us with their bids,” said Sousa.

The new location proved to be more of a benefit than a challenge, with people first learning about the auction because they were at the mall for holiday shopping, and auction supporters visiting a nearby storefront to purchase something to donate.

“People were coming at all hours to drop things off, which was really incredible,” said Sousa. “I would love to be back at Tanger next year.”

There were a couple of new things for the 40th. Cycle Mania returned, with a 12-hour spin bike session at Gilford Hills Tennis & Fitness Club, which inspired a Cycle Mania spin-off at the Downtown Gym that produced a truckload of donated bicycles. That led to a pop-up bike shop halfway through the auction.

Radio personality Pat Kelly spent many hours urging high and frequent bids, and his daughter, Teghan Marie Kelly, put on a concert at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse to carry on the family tradition of supporting the auction.

Sousa said it was interesting to see all the ways people found to connect with the auction. And that’s important, because all of those connections mean that the many charities that support local children will be able to find support in the form of a Children’s Auction grant.

“The requests continue to increase. Knowing that we have substantial funds to meet them is really exciting,” Sousa said.