John Beatty shows off the 18 trolling flies tied by Wally Bailey. John outbid four other bidders to win this item for $21.50. The wooden cigar box was an elegant extra touch by Wally.
Our auctions came to an end last Thursday, and we were very pleased with the results. We were unsure about how many people would participate in our first online fundraiser, but there was lots of interest in the local items up for bid. It looked like everyone was having fun bidding, and we appreciate your interest and support. The final bids on the 17 items total $1071, and we thank everyone for the lively bidding. Of course the event was only possible because our neighbors around Salisbury generously donated all of the auction items. It’s wonderful to have such support in the community, and humbling to learn of all the talented folks who created many of the items.
Jim Eagan and the bright landscape painting by Peter Langrock he won at the online auction.
For those of you curious about how the event progressed, here are some stats. During the 12 days the auctions were active, more than 30 people placed 220 bids on the 17 items. A total of 43 people registered at the auction site, but I can’t determine exactly how many of them placed bids (if your bids were always lower than the high bidder’s hidden maximum, your name was not revealed). During the days the auctions were active, 136 different people made 456 visits to the auction Web site and viewed the 19 pages 3998 times.
A daily record of how many times the auction and main conservation commission (SCC) Web sites were viewed during the online auction in April.
I have included a graph of the number of visitors (unique computers which accessed the auction Web site) and the number of visits (including the same computer returning to the site multiple times). The graph includes several days before the auction started, and two days after it ended. It also shows when I sent emails to our list of interested people and when an article about the auction appeared in the Addison Independent. I was surprised to see this evidence that some people actually read my emails.
The graph also includes the visitorship to the conservation commission’s main Web site. It looks like a few people were clicking over from the auction site while the auctions were happening. I hope some of you continue to check this site for news of our activities (I guess you have!).
Click on the images to enlarge.