Mennonite Weekly Review

HARRISONBURG, Va. — An enthusiastic crowd of nearly 10,000 flocked to the 43rd annual Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale Oct. 2-3 at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds.

Eastern Mennonite University students Erin Nussbaum, left, of Union, Mich., and Laci Gautsche of Archbold, Ohio, move fresh doughnuts to the packaging area at the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale Oct. 3 at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds. The sale’s preliminary receipts were $283,246. — Photo by Jim Bishop

Preliminary receipts totaled $283,246 for Mennonite Central Committee. Last year’s sales total was $307,683.

An auction of handmade quilts, wall hangings, knotted comforters and afghans, artwork and wooden handcrafted items accounted for $122,282. Nineteen items went for $1,000 or more; 12 were quilts.

The highest bid item was a 1973 MGB convertible in mint condition, donated by Elmer and Marianne Kennel of Harrisonburg, which went for $7,000.

A pineapple off-white handcrafted quilt donated by Catherine Mumaw and Clair Basinger of Harrisonburg took the highest bid of $2,200.

A grandmother’s clock made by Stanley Cline of Harrisonburg garnered $4,000; an aluminum toy made between 1932 and 1934 by the Sharon Manufacturing Co. and donated by Wilbur Layman went for $2,100; and a marble roller designed and crafted by Dan Bowman of Harrisonburg, who is blind, went for $1,000.

Again this year the venue included such popular food items as 190 gallons of Brunswick stew made on the premises by members of Springdale and Mount View Mennonite churches in Augusta County, 3,000 barbecued chicken halves, homemade potato chips and apple butter and cider.

The sale opened with a Friday afternoon two-hour radio broadcast, “Down Home Shenandoah,” on radio station WSIG, 96.9 FM. Using music and storytelling, the program focused on the music of musicologist Joseph Funk of Singers Glen and selections from his Harmonia Sacra songbook. The broadcast ended with the audience joining in singing “606” — “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.”

“Even though the initial sales figure is down a bit over last year, there was no lack of generosity among the people in attendance,” said Phil Helmuth, sale chair. “This event is truly a community-building experience.“