Annual Fleming Pie Auction raises $8,700

April 18, 2024, 11:57 am
Ed James

Kari Kosior hands a plate of cupcakes to her daughter Rayna, who was one of the winning bidders at the Fleming Pie Auction on April 5.

The village of Fleming is the first community you drive past when entering Saskatchewan on the Trans-Canada Highway heading west. It is known for several unique and historic items—the first being the vintage Windsor Bar & Grill. Just down from it can be seen the foundation markers of the radio relay tower that was once used to broadcast hockey games into Manitoba. There is also Green Acres Ball Park, which is a full-size baseball diamond complete with professional lighting. There was at one time a very historic western Canadian grain elevator that was destroyed by senseless vandalism several years ago. And finally, the whole village itself was once the photo on the back of the old Canadian one dollar bill many years ago. Gone but not forgotten!

The major community centre in Fleming is its community hall. The hall is the centre of many major events during the year, and each day part of it is converted into a morning coffee shop, where on display are photos and items of the town from back in the day.

Ty Cutler auctioning off pies.

However, the community hall is also the site of a major fundraising event to support the hall’s operation and upkeep. The event is the Annual Pie Auction. This event brings in community members from both sides of the Manitoba and Saskatchewan boundary for an evening of auction fun and humor. This year it was held on Friday, April 5.

On this night as you enter the building, you can pick up your bidding number, buy some draw tickets on a few special baked items and the then sit at the decorated tables where snacks are provided and a selection of free beverages are available.

The auction this year, as in past years, was well handled by local auctioneer Ty Cutler who was the recent winner of the Rookie Buckle from the Man-Sask Auctioneering Competition in Virden on March 22. He was helped by the pie wranglers Kari Kosior and Charlotte Stephen.

Shown here is Maren Stewart of Rocanville, in her grandmother Beryl Stewart’s arms, after she bid for and won a pie in the children’s auction held at the Fleming Community Hall.

The bidding started off slow, but not for long! Bids started below $50, soon passing the $100 mark, and one item selling for close to $500! Throughout the evening there was some bidding rivalry among some of the crowd and jokes to go along with it, but it was all in good fun. At least I did not see any pie fights that evening!

Halfway through the evening a new auction event was held. It was an auction for the children only. They each had their own bidding number and their bids were in one dollar increments. This turned out to be a fun event and was filled with excitement on everyone’s part. The children became very involved with the action and understood the concept. However in several cases they were bidding against themselves or their siblings because they were so caught up in the bidding action. A popular item with the younger bidders were the chocolate covered cake pops!

Three items of the evening that got a lot of sales action were a very large and colorful cherry cheesecake, a very unique and beautiful slab cake from the Moosomin Co-op bakery department which featured a full-sized image of the former Canadian one dollar bill that showed the town of Fleming on the back and one of the historic grain elevator that was lost in a tragic fire several years ago. It was the highest selling item, and went for $470.

People looking over the selection of pies before bidding starts.

The last item of great interest was a pan full of cinnamon buns from Berry Good Farms—baked by Lana and Myron Wiebe, who were the former owners of Wiebe’s Family Restaurant of Moosomin. They were well known for the tasty buns. The dozen cinnamon buns sold for $275!

This year the auction organizers also held a week-long online auction as well and that went over well. That evening the live auction was live streamed online as well.

Cindy Green, the head of the Fleming Community Organization said, “The annual Fleming Community Organization’s Pie Auction was one of the best we have ever had, raising $8,700! The money raised will be used for any hall repairs or improvements that are needed. We are also planning to use some of the money to make additions to the children’s playground area equipment located behind the hall.

“The children’s auction was a big success and a lot of fun for everyone at the hall. The turnout was great with people from communities on both sides of the boundary. We even got support from the protesters of the Federal Carbon Tax at the border. They bought two pies for $160 as their group said that they like to support small Canadian communities.

“Thank you everyone for supporting our small community and we hope to see you next year!”