Northern Alumni Auction set for Saturday

A scholarship fundraiser for Montana State University-Northern described as an easy-going, fun time is again going on in Havre, including its legendary Chinese auction.

MSU-Northern Alumni Foundation Executive Director Jim Bennett said the foundation’s Northern Alumni Auction will start at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Ballroom of the university’s Student Union Building.

“It’s a great event, and it’s a fun way to support the students at Northern,” Bennett said. “I encourange everyone, if you’ve never been, to check it out, and if you have been, to come back.”

He added that it is a very informal event.

“It’s kind of a come-as-you-are, just have a good time,” Bennett said.

The mainstay of the scholarship fundraiser is the Chinese Auction. In that event, a timer is started for each item auctioned. Northern athletes carrying numbered paddles watch for people who want to bid on the item. If someone gives them a dollar, the volunteer holds up the paddle until the number is called by the auctioneer.

If someone’s number is called, they have to put in another dollar to have the paddle raised.

The last number called before the timer goes off wins the item.

“You could get a great item and only pay a dollar,” Bennett said. “It’s a good fundraiser, but it’s kind of a different twist.”

Other activities — along with dinner — will be a live auction, silent auction, raffles and some “fun and games,” he said.

The items all were donated by local businesses, Bennett said.

“We’re pretty lucky to live in a community where the business community supports our students so well,” he said. “We’ve gotten some really cool stuff.”

The auction raises money for a scholarship for each of Northern’s athletic teams and also one for a single-parent student, a nontraditional student, a graduate student and, new this year, an academic scholarship for a student selected by the dean of each the College of Technical Sciences and the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Nursing, he said.

Tickets are $30 apiece and can be purchased at the door or by calling the Foundation office at 265-3711.