Bidding begins Monday for Clinton Christian's annual festival

Apr. 11—GOSHEN — Clinton Christian School will host its 39th annual Auction and Spring Festival next weekend.

Online bidding begins at 10 a.m. Monday.

There will be kids' carnival activities, baked goods, vendors, and more. More than 300 items will be auctioned off between the live and online auctions with a goal of raising $50,000 to help support the private school north of Goshen.

"It actually helps support some of our supplement and support staff at the school — last year we used some of the dollars to help pay for the parking lot, so it's a really awesome event that the community contributes to to help the school keep growing and advancing," said Michele Vigil, Co-Head Administrator for Clinton Christian School. "It's one of two annual fundraisers that the schoolwide fundraisers that we do here at Clinton so it's a big deal for us."

Many auction items are donated by local businesses, but classes too help by creating projects to be auctioned off. The annual staple is the Kindergarten Quilt.

Each elementary class is putting together a project.

The first-grade class project is a hand-painted half barrel with gardening supplies and a tree.

The second-grade class project is a bakery basket with a personalized cookie jar and cookbook. The third-grade class is a fire pit with custom tiles. The fourth-grade class project is a painted popcorn bowl with class thumbprints filled with popcorn, candy, and five Redbox movie coupons. The fifth-grade class project is a handmade wind chime with personalized painted ceramic squares. The sixth-grade class project is a handmade wooden cross with personalized etched Bible verses.

"The thing that's really interesting to me about this event is the mixture of big items and these unique class items, and I think that's what makes our auction different," Vigil said.

In addition to the class items, there are over 250 items to be auctioned off, many from the numerous local businesses supporting the cause. It includes inner party meal tickets, Florida vacation packages, Notre Dame sporting events, and specialty meat boxes from Yoder's Meat & Cheese and Vintage Meadows up for auction.

"It's very cool to see how the community supports us in that way," Vigil added.

High school classes don't create a singular class item, but students can contribute items to be auctioned.

The fundraiser helps to keep tuition costs low for students and provides necessary funding for the private Christian school.

"The thing what's really interesting to me about this event is the mixture of big items and these unique class items, and I think that's what makes our auction different," Vigil said.

The online event will end at 7 p.m. Friday, April 19 during the live event at the school. Most items will be sold at the online auction. Doors open at 5 p.m. and carnival rides and the live auction begin at 6 p.m. at the Clinton Christian School campus, 61763 C.R. 35, Goshen.

The online auction opens at 10 a.m. Monday. To register and see the complete list of auction items, visit https://auctria.events/2024ccsauction.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.