By Abby Walton
Although the Zionsville Fall Festival isn’t for another week, the excitement is already building with the opening of this year’s silent auction. In-person bidding will take place on Sept. 7 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Shelter House at Lion’s Park; however, you can start the bidding process now by heading online.
“This is the first year we’ve contracted Qtego to offer online bidding. We decided to give it a try after hearing reviews from other local not-for-profit organizations that experienced great success with the technology at their charity auctions in both increased revenue and ease of event management,” said Jennifer Blandford, Fall Festival committee member.
By heading onto the website www.qtego.net/auc/zlc, you can start looking at the many items up for bid.
“So far, we have an outstanding list of items. The support from the community has been fantastic,” Blandford said.
From restaurant gift certificates, to furniture and even a safari trip to South Africa, this year’s auction has a little something for everyone.
“All a shopper needs to do is register their cell phone by going to the website or texting LIONS to 79230,” Blandford said.
Once registered, people can bid by texting the item number and the amount they want to spend. If someone outbids you, Blandford said you’ll receive a text asking if you want to increase your bid.
“It works a lot like eBay,” Blandford said.
All bidding will end at 4 p.m. on Sept. 7. If you win, but can’t pick up your items that day, Blandford said the Lions Club will have pick-up hours on Sept. 8 in the Clubhouse on Elm Street from 1 to 3 p.m. All proceeds from this year’s silent auction will go toward replacing, repairing and expanding the playground equipment in Lion’s Park. For more information on the silent auction, visit the auction website. Also, for a full list of events at this year’s Fall Festival, check out www.zlionsevents.com or look them up on Facebook by searching ZLionsFallFestival.