Behind the Scenes of The DRA’s Big Auction
Do your bidding: The DRA’s 2025 auction is on February 22nd.
Making it Happen: Development Manager Peter Anderson
DRA is hosting our annual Auction & Gathering! Mark your calendar for casual, afternoon affair on Saturday, February 22nd from 2:00-5:30pm at the Redd East Event Space. Hop on over to our auction website to purchase a ticket (or sponsorship) to celebrate our beloved lower Deschutes River.
Planning and executing an auction is an exercise in organized chaos. Event prep begins the day that the previous year’s event ends when we set a date and book our vendors, and the summer is spent concocting the dream lineup of exclusive and desirable packages. However, no matter how much advanced coordination the team does, the last two months are always full of surprises—like when your communications manager asks you to write a guest blog in the heart of the madness—but I digress…
Food for 300, Plus 100 Auction Items, Plus Fine Wine and Beer
There is a daunting volume of to-dos leading up to the big show: food for 300 attendees, procuring and assembling 100 auction packages, and coordinating a team of volunteers to name a few. The key to a sound mind is the assurance that our amazing community provides. I thank my lucky stars to have a pair of advisors like John Hazel and Paul Franklin. I am eternally grateful for the guides, families, and businesses who offer us trips during their busy season, open up their homes to bidders, and donate premium rods and reels to ensure a robust auction slate. Finally, I let out a sigh of relief that fine wine from Lange Estate paired with refreshing beers from Freebridge and Steeplejack turn a 300-person catering into one heck of a party!
The next 45 days give a new meaning to the modern white-collar professional world where the bulk of work is completed in front of a computer screen. There will be a lot driving around Oregon procuring last minute goods. Positioning Burkis, Winstons, and Beulahs with the eye of an artist for the perfect catalog shot. And on the day of the auction, all of us here at the DRA will proudly check that peculiar job application box: must be able to lift 25 pounds.
Buy Your Tickets Today
So there you have it. That is how the sausage is made. Cross your fingers Portland isn’t hit with another ’23 ice storm the night before the action, and buy a golden ticket when they go on sale January 22nd.
See you all at the auction! (buy your tickets, please!)
For the lower Deschutes,
Your DRA Auction Czar
Peter Anderson
Development Manager
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