By CHRIS McGEE
STAFF WRITER
The Mary Hall-Ruddiman Canine Shelter will host its second Home and Garden Tour this weekend. The biennial tour and fundraiser helps to raise money for the no-kill shelter will take place, rain or shine. Proceeds from the event go toward caring for the animals at the facility and helping with some of the day-to-day costs of running the shelter, like food and veterinarian charges.
Melissa Guill, one of the coordinators who spearheading the event, said 85 people attended last year’s event. She hopes more will attend this year’s tour.
A luncheon will be held 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Saturday at The Woman’s Club of Marion building on East Carlisle Street, with self-guided tours of the homes beginning at 12:30 p.m. The sites featured this year are: Ethel Tucker, Jean Claude and Caroline Kieffer, Don and Diana Herrin, Samuel and Dee Patterson and the Victory Gardens.
A silent auction of gifts and autographed items from celebrities will be incorporated into this year’s fundraiser, as well.
Guill said trying to obtain items for the silent auction made coordinating this year’s event a little more difficult than last year’s.
More than 30 items will be sold at the silent auction. Some of the celebrity items include signed prints by the Dallas Cowboys, stars of “Duck Dynasty,” Hank Williams Jr., Bob Barker and others. In addition, there will be gift baskets with products from Avon, Mary Kay and John Deere. Also, there will be home and garden accessories and gift cards to dozens of area restaurants.
The items are listed on Crittenden County Animal Shelter’s Facebook page, as Bark & Bid. Bids will be taken online through Saturday.
“Pictures of the items are up on the Crittenden County Animal Shelter’s Facebook page so that people can go online and start bidding,” Guill said.
She hopes to pique a lot of interest and get some good bids with the items. She also said there has been a new item added to the list.
“Since I last spoke with The Crittenden Press, we have acquired a signed Duck Commander catalog,” Guill said, referring to the home of merchandise from the popular “Duck Dynasty” series on A&E.
In addition to the silent auction, a centerpiece design contest will be held. Entry for the contest will be $10 with the winner receiving $100.
Guill said there was no specific criteria for homes enlisted as a part of the tour.
“A lot of people just love gardening; Ethel Tucker’s home is part of the tour because it is a historic home.” Guill said.
Even though Guill has been the spearhead of the event, she is quick to deflect the credit away from herself.
“It is a group effort; people on the board (of the Mary Hall Shelter) have volunteered their time and paid for their own postage to send the materials out,” she said.
Tickets for the tour are $15 and can be purchased at the following locations: Louise’s Flowers, The Daisy Patch, Bowtanicals, Marion Welcome Center and the Mary Hall shelter.
