Kids auction raising funds for Boys & Girls Club

Bright balloons were waving and the tents were up for the eighth annual Kids Auction and World's Greatest BBQ at the Nevada Railroad Museum on Saturday evening.

The event drew a host of officials including Sen. Mark Amodei, Mayor Ray Masayko, Carson City supervisors Robin Williamson and Richard Staub and "Grandma Dorothy" Thompson, a volunteer at the club who said she doesn't miss this event. She said it gets a little better every year and the money goes for a good cause.

The 75-year-old has been volunteering at the club for eight years, handing out candy, offering support and occasionally showing the boys a thing or two at the pool table.

"We're trying to get the money for a new building," she said. "It's a lot of work - we only charge $10 per year per child, but we've turned out some beautiful teenagers. The older ones help the younger ones and sometimes they come to see me, after they've grown up."

She said the staff also holds a place in her heart.

"We have a wonderful staff," she said. "They give from the heart."

Tickets were $50 each and guaranteed participants all they could eat and drink, a lot of good music and chances at a number of auctioned items, from a day at the spa to a six-day backpack trip into the Jarbidge Wilderness. "Doc" Pierczynski even kicked in a gallon of his world-famous, award-winning chili.

Pinon Plaza, the Carson Station and Comstock Distributing provided food, tables and libations for the event, which draws 600 to 700 annually and raises about $120,000 for the Boys and Girls Club.