Chamber benefit radio auction

Area radio listeners will be able to tune in Friday for a chance to bid on a variety of different donated items during the first-ever Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce radio auction.

The auction, which will take place from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday at KOMB-KMDO, 2 N. National Ave., will be conducted by broadcasters at the station, including chamber board member Deb McKenney, the wife of station owner Tim McKenney, and other chamber members. The auction will be similar in format to that of the station's regular daily auction of various items called in by area listeners, FSACC President and CEO Gary Emry said.

Emry, who will participate in the auction by offering descriptions of available items to listeners, said all proceeds will go into the chamber's general fund for basic yearly operations but will not be set aside for any specific purpose.

The auction will allow several local businesses to gain added exposure in the community, Emry said.

"All the items are donated to the chamber," he said. "They're (businesses) basically investing in some advertising and some air time. All the proceeds go to the chamber."

The live radio auction was originally supposed to occur as a silent auction during the annual chamber dinner fund raiser that took place in February, but chamber officials split the two events up earlier this year due to time constraints, and elected to conduct the radio auction instead, Emry said.

"This is the second half of that (event)," he said.

Some of the items available for bidding will be packaged with other items and then auctioned off. Listeners will have three to five minutes to place bids on each item, and all sales of items will be final.

Some of the items will be available for winning bidders to pick up at the radio station, while others will have to be claimed at the retail business that donated the item, Emry said. Certificates to claim these items must be picked up and paid for by noon Friday at the radio station, a chamber statement said.

Items that will be up for auction include movie passes, dinner passes, magazine subscriptions, gift certificates to area restaurants and other businesses, photography sessions, and other collectible items. Three family passes for Dolly the Trolley, donated by the FSACC Tourism Division, will also be available. The tourism division is also donating a coupon that will allow the bearer to rent the trolley for special occasions.

The chamber is also donating two "Dinner for Two" passes to the annual chamber dinner in 2008.

Other auction items include two tickets to the 4th Annual Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity dinner on Friday, Oct. 5; two Good Ol' Days T-shirts and four collectible mugs donated by the Good Ol' Days committee; lunch for one year donated by McDonald's; a salsa package donated by local insurance agent Kale Nelson; a small Weber grill donated by Mayco Ace Hardware; and a flower arrangement donated by Tri-Valley Developmental Services.

Local residents Jim and Martha Scott have also donated a number of items related to food and beverages. Martha has donated a variety of cookbooks and a gardening book, while Jim has provided a book titled "Whiskey, the Water of Life."

For more information about the radio auction, call the chamber at (620) 223-3566.