MASON CITY – The Snow Wonder benefit auction is Saturday, December 15 from 9-12. This benefit auction is for the Georgia Hanford Park sledding hill . A live auction and silent auction will be held at Southbridge Mall in downtown Mason City.
Twenty sleds are set to be auctioned off in a live auction that will begin at 10 a.m. in center court of the mall. Artistically designed saucer sleds have been painted by Eloise Kuper and Delores Badker of Osage.
Mason City artists Sarah Torgeson Heinz, Tara Dimitros, Kathy VanDike, Patty Ohl, Maxine Brinkman, Rita Goranson, Peggy Bang, Wayne Allison, Suzy Ford, Julie Kim, Kyle Lucas, Bret “Cookie” Eden and Tim Dietrick have also created artistic sleds.
Tom Donnelly, a former Mason City resident, of Des Moines and Brittney Arndt from Clear Lake have also created sleds for the benefit.
Twelve of the the saucer sleds were donated by Kramer Ace Hardware and eight came from Super Target.
Burt Hogan from Osage has created a hand carved patriotic theme wooden sled.
A wood prop sled that has been used for many years at the Surf Ballroom for the Nashville Christmas shows will also be auctioned off.
Before the auction sleds can be seen on a special Face Book page:Georgia Hanford Park sledding hill.
Some of the sleds are also on currently on display at these Mason City businesses: Moorman Clothiers,City Center,Reflections Salon, City Hall, South Bridge Mall, Market 124, Dynamic Designs, Kramer Ace Hardware, North Iowa Community Credit Union,Harley Davidson of Mason City and Wayne’s Ski & Cycle
Some of the artistic designed sleds were designed to be used on a sledding hill while many of these creations will look great in a home, above a fireplace or in a business as part of their holiday decorations.
This is a major fund raising effort for the sledding hill project. Sledding hill project coordinator Ozzie Ohl is hoping that this fund raising event can bring in several thousand dollars.
A silent auction is also being held during the fund raiser event. More than seventy local businesses have donated about two thousand dollars in gift certificates, gift cards or merchandise items to help with the sledding hill fund raiser. Ohl will hold one more fund raiser in January 2013. The event ”Cocktails for a Cause”will be hosted at Eleven Lounge on Tuesday, January 15th
The Georgia Hanford Park sledding hill project originally was projected to run twenty thousand dollars. Thanks to an eight thousand dollar in kind donation of excavating services by McKiness Excavating the total costs dropped to twelve thousand dollars. Additional in kind support from Mason City RentAll has cut another twenty five hundred dollars off the projected costs. At this time Ohl has raised a little more than three thousand dollars through fund raising and donations from individuals and businesses. That leaves about $7,500 remaining to be raised to complete the entire project. That amount would cover running electricity, installing one pole and the specially designed lights to light the area. The area will also have additional permanent bench seating.
The Zook family has purchased a bench in memory of Al Zook. Memorial benches or organization benches are available for purchase for $500.
Anyone who isn’t able to attend the vent but would like to make a tax deductible donation to the Georgia Hanford Park sledding hilll can write a check to the City of Mason City. The memo line should include sledding hill or memorial bench if the donation is for a bench.
Donation canisters can also be found at Pro’s Sandwich Shop. Mulligans and Ld’s Filling Station.
All funds collected are being administered through a special dedicated account with the city of Mason City.
