Chamber auction draws a big crowd

A large crowd of Sisters area business people, officials and community service activists turned out for a sociable evening on Friday, September 29, at the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce annual auction fund-raiser.

Chamber events coordinator Jeri Buckmann said she has not calculated the funds raised at the auction and hesitated to make an estimate because the turnout was so large.

“We had so many more people come for the dinner — a lot more than we expected,” said Buckmann.

She said there were 150 people attending, not including the volunteers who staged the events.

They bid on 86 silent auction items and vied for 26 live auction items.

“Of the ones I’ve done, this is the best one,” Buckmann said.

The annual auction is the major fund-raiser for the chamber, whose annual budget is $265,000.