Auction funds Boys and Girls Club

White linen table clothes flapped in the wind Saturday at the Nevada State Railroad Museum as potential bidders looked over tables loaded with artwork and merchandise donated to raise funds for the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada.

The annual KIDS Auction and World's Greatest BBQ is the main fund-raising event for the club, bringing in over $100,000 to help with each year's operating budget.

The first tally of proceeds from Saturday's event was almost $124,000, club executive director Cathy Blankenship said, which was very near the goal of $125,000.

"It was all very exciting. A young lady got the Harley-Davidson with a bid of $9,700, got on it and rode away," Blankenship said.

A 250-pound bronze of two eagles linked by an American flag, valued at $98,000, went for over $15,000, she said.

Among the entertaining non-financial highlights was Mayor Ray Masayko's belly dance with Yolanda Garcia, she said.

The barbecue featured mesquite-grilled tri-tip, mahogany-smoked pork ribs, rotisserie roasted leg of Nevada lamb and assorted grilled Carson City Sausage Factory sausages, as well as homemade peach and apple cobbler.

A 1978 Cadillac and a 1963 Mercury Marquis also went on the auction block, as did musician Glenn Campbell's autographed Fender guitar, a baseball autographed by Mark McGwire and another baseball autographed by Joe DiMaggio.

A week in a Puerto Vallarta timeshare, a Skyhawk ATV and a number of arcade games and pinball machines were also among the booty garnered by successful bidders after auctioneer Dr. Greg "Lightning" Williams dropped the hammer on bids.

Among the items awarded in a silent auction were a pearl necklace, a one-hour plane ride, an Oregon fishing trip and a 12-gauge Remington shotgun.

Blankenship said 720 tickets were sold for the event, the seventh for the club.