The quilt and the banquet

I'm not sure how long the Friends of the Library have been holding an annual winter banquet - 20 years?  The first year we lived in Barre we wandered down to the Unitarian Church basement for a delicious Chinese banquet cooked up by our late, dear friend Chet and his friend Henry.  All of the dishes were amazing, especially the giant "squirrel" fish that Paul and I still talk about with wonder.

We soon joined the Friends and helped with the banquet and its accompanying silent and live auctions.  Because it was so popular, the event was moved to the Knights of Columbus hall and, then, to the Elks Club.  After Chet passed away, we felt we couldn't offer Chinese fare up to his standard, so the Elks has been cooking up beef tenderloin for the group of about 100.   It is always a very nice community event during the dull, cold days of winter.


Last night's banquet went without a hitch, and I'm hoping it raised as much as always.  We were pleased that old and new friends could join our table.  People throughout the hall seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.  Our local legislator certainly looked happy with his dessert donated by Ben & Jerry's!

In the background, you can see my scrappy quilt on display with the other live auction items that our new mayor and his girlfriend are reviewing.  The quilt did well but I couldn't see who "won" it.

The auctioneer was just about to begin, and he was very entertaining, as usual.  We didn't get any winning bids in the live auction, but did go home with a pair of lovely crystal earrings for me and a nifty plant holder for Chris from the silent auction.