Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.

Six-year-old Ezra Salong, of Gilpin County, found just what he was looking for at the silent auction last Saturday evening: a Spiderman Fidget Cube. It wasn’t worth much, but it made Ezra happy and that’s what counts at a silent auction.

The auction took place during the High Country Auxiliary Chili Dinner fundraiser: the annual win-win community event that brings in families for the fun of it and collectors and artists looking for something they would never find anywhere else. Chili made by a firefighter or a neighbor is always welcomed in the heart of winter.

Dozens of HCA volunteers and firefighters work together to make the event a success. Long tables are set up in the Gilpin County Recreation Center, some of them covered with bubbling green, white or red Chile in crock pots, pans of corn bread, coleslaw and all the toppings. Big cookies chock full of chocolate chips and cold drinks to cool off hot tongues.

Other tables were filled with items for sale. The two hours the shoppers had to survey the hundreds of goods and services up for bid didn’t seem long enough. Shoppers also had to keep track of the bids, had to continually outbid the others to ensure they won the best deal in the gym.

At 7 p.m. a barrier of tables was erected, and all bidders were shooed out of the auction area. If you weren’t the last signature on the list, you lost out. A slight feeling of tension buzzed around the room as the bidders went to sit down, leaving it all up to fate.

Volunteers tallied the bids and the winners were called to pay for and collect their items. The workers have it all down to a logical science.

One man, waiting to see if his bid was high, said, “I’m pretty sure we are going home with a big bag of sunflower seeds for $20,” which led to a discussion of which birds ate what food and how many show up at various homes throughout Gilpin County. Conversations came easy and often as strangers sat together waiting for the outcome of the night.

One woman picked up her bottle of pecan pie brandy and her Keen Kutter collectable knife, and the fireman handing it to her told her to drive carefully on the way home.

Another Spidey fan, Preslee Zaikowski said she was happy to find a pair of Spiderman sunglasses. People starting to collect items to donate to the HCA summer flea market should gather up all of their Spiderman collectables; they seem to be the hot deal of the year.

Nederland resident Jack Bayer hovered around the collectable knife table, hoping to acquire at least one of the many knives up for grabs. Two of the knives were Spyder knives and both of them sold for over $50. Bayer says a man who whittles never has enough knives.

A constant seller has been Gilpin County resident Marie Chandler’s horse paintings and this year was no exception. A stunning, simple black and white portrait of a horse drinking from a silver laced stream was purchased by Tom and Cary Ihme who said it was to be a surprise for a friend of theirs.

Probably one of the more desirable items on the table was a gift basket filled with a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers and shining wine glasses. The gift packages were going for about $150 before the bidding time was up. Its worth wasn’t in the wine itself, it was in who made it. Two years ago, TFPD chief Glen Levy resigned and moved to Texas. He and his former Timberline captains have stayed in touch with each other. Since then, Levy and his wife Chris have become owners of a vineyard, The Wildfire Winery, and sent a couple of bottles to be auctioned off.

The signs accompanying the bottles read, “A basket of Levy’s own wine for a hot night of passion in Cold Gilpin County. The value: priceless.” The other bottle was described, “A basket of Levy’s own wine for a romantic evening by the fire. If things get too hot, call Timberline Fire.”

Firefighter John Arendt was the lucky winner of one of the baskets, saying that Levy was chief when he first joined the district and became a mentor and a good friend. “He and his wife are amazing people. I plan to enjoy the wine as soon as Glen recommends how long it has to age, and then I’ll drink it. Oh yeah! Good wine was made to be drunk.”

Soon the tables were cleared, and residents left the center clutching their purchases, looking forward to hanging their new pictures, getting a massage or an oil change, spending the night at a fancy hotel or enjoying a good dinner for two.

John Grant struggled up the rec center steps, his arms filled with a stuffed antelope. When asked what he was going to do with it, he looked as if there could be no doubt and said, “Why it matches the other one I have.”

Proceeds from the event go to HCA which, in turn, supports the Timberline fire departments and the firefighters and the needs that are not covered by their funding. The volunteers make sure their firefighters are warm, safe and fed during a county-wide emergency.

A good deal all the way around.