Los Banos United Methodist Church's annual Fall Festival Dinner and Silent Auction was held last weekend.

The auction capped an evening which started with a yummy dinner in the church's 'Fellowship Hall' that included barbecued Cornish game hen, rice pilaf, green beans, green salad, a roll and dessert. Dinners were served table-side by a small crew of mostly young ladies and gentlemen who smiled as they brought each diner a plate heaped with the yummy bbq hen and the beans which had a little 'kick' to them. For those who preferred to eat at home, take-out dinners were made available as well. The to-go dinners were boxed in styrofoam containers and handed out in bags from the kitchen window.

As the meal wound down, the 'silent' auction started. The silent auction featured quite a selection of goods and services which were laid out on well over a dozen tables. The items up for bid were reportedly donated by members of the church family. People could bid on all kinds of things including; home-baked goods, crafted items such as locally hand-made whirligigs and knitted blankets, books from local author Robert Edminster, all manner of gift baskets, hosted meals, tickets to various attractions like zoos, the use of a vacation home, and more.

According to a press release sent out by a member of the church, "The Fall Festival Dinner and Silent Auction are a long-standing tradition of the Los Banos United Methodist Church." It continues, "This is the local church's biggest fund-raiser every year, and it involves virtually everyone in our church family in some form or another. The proceeds go toward meeting our share of the activities and missions of the world-wide United Methodist Church."

The auction was a lot of fun. This year the pastor (who apparently gently declined the title of 'auctioneer') was the one responsible for 'closing the tables'. A few minutes before a table was scheduled to end, the pastor would turn on the public address system and announce specifically what merchandise was on the table that was about to be closed. A little while later he would count down the seconds as last-moment bids were entered on the auction sheets. Much to the glee of the many people watching the auction, there were times that those last ten seconds seemed to be counted down at a somewhat glacial pace as friendly little bidding wars broke out and the laughing bidders would trade the paper back and forth topping each other's bids.

If everyone in Los Banos would just take 1 or 2 hours a month to do something to help their neighborhood or their community we could truly make Los Banos the gem of the valley.

The above is only my personal opinion and I strongly encourage readers to seek out more information from expert sources. Copyright 2009