The first ever “Art for the Ages” auction raised more than $2,300 last Sunday for the Clinton Senior Center.
With 164 tickets sold, the event, on March 26, drew lovers of local art and fried chicken, prepared by Robert Perryman of Kickin’ Chicken. Diners filled the 40 tables set up in the senior center, their cars filling the parking lot of the Clinton Senior Center, 970 E. Sedalia St. across from the community center.
While they dined, the Clinton High School Jazz Band, led by Pat Miles, entertained the crowd. To start the auction, David Lee, director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, warmed up the audience with jokes before handing the microphone over to Lora Anstine of Anstine Reality and Auctions.
With her crew — Melinda Kirk as clerk, Cliff Kirk and David Pleacher as assistants — Lora auctioned off 75 pieces of art. Art of local scenes by local artists prompted the the most spirited bidding. A watercolor of a barn by Ike Parker sold for $260. Mike and Lois Miller, founders of Miller Seed Company, donated several paintings of Missouri’s iconic farm animal, the mule. A watercolor of a mule team brought $120, and “Mule Skinner” a sketch Joseph Vick did for Miller Seed brought in $85. Charles Dundas donated paintings by Patti Ridenour. The Cuttin’ Up Quilt Club, which meets at the Senior Center, made and donated a fence-rail quilt, which sold for $130.
Jennifer Hinton bought several paintings of local scenes for the Bed and Breakfast she is building on South Main, including a water color by Ed Walker of the White Sulphur Springs Hotel in Artisan Park. Trish Meyers of Gallery Three also bought pieces by local artists.
The silent action of 85 items raised the total for the day to $4,000, organizer Kathy Wilson said. It included gift baskets donated by Schreiber Cheese. Madison Kennels in Creighton donated artwork for the auction, and gift certificates for boarding in the silent auction.
The event was organized by Wilson, who is Henry County Services Director for Care Connection, a nonprofit agency. The art auction was a new idea for fundraising, Kathy said, and also offered the community a different social event. She began assembling art for the auction last October.
For $15, attendees got a traditional Sunday supper — fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, a roll and iced tea. Rosa, the senior center cook, made cake and brownies for dessert. Left-over chicken was sold by the bag at the auction, as was a tray of cakes.
The Clinton Senior Center serves inexpensive meals at the Senior Center five days a week, plus delivers meals to home-bound seniors in the county. In the past fiscal year, the center provided more than 42,500 meals for older adults in Henry County.
The Center also has card games, activities, and exercise classes throughout the week, and live music on Tuesday afternoons. When someone told her that the Senior Center is the best kept secret in Clinton, Kathy replied, “I don’t want us to be that.”
Kathy said that the Senior Center serves fried chicken on the third Thursday of the month, and she hopes people who came to the auction will come and enjoy it.
“Let’s get our parking lot this full every month,” she said.
Attending the luncheon was Eagle Scout Taylor Henson, a member of the Clinton High School Jazz Band, who painted the stripes in the Senior Center parking lot as his Eagle project.
Lora Anstine announced that for more local art, there will be an auction on April 15 of Dick and Nancy Fleming’s house, off Hwy. C near 901 Rd.
“They loved art and they loved horses,” Anstine said.
The next event at the Clinton Senior Center is a book-signing at 9:30 a.m. on April 6 by author Beth Halsey. Halsey, who is from Warsaw but now lives in Osceola, has written a book about a dog she rescued. Kathy plans to invite staff and pets from the Clinton Animal Shelter to the book-signing.
Care Connection for Aging Services, based in Warrensburg, serves 13 west-central Missouri counties to provide opportunities for positive aging experiences for people 60 and older. For more information, call 1-800-748-7826 or visit www.goaging.org.
