MGRS Annual Outing in Buxton

On Saturday July 15th the club held its Outing, Annual Meeting and Picnic at the Overlook Garden Railway in Buxton. The weather started off cloudy, but cleared off later with only one brief shower.

It all starts at Check-In, where you can pay your dues, get a ballot for the Annual Meeting, a Door Prize Ticket, and Raffles Tickets for the Railroad Quilt and 50/50 Raffle. And everyone received a set of directions to this summer's Layout Visits.

Terry Norton and Scott Gould with the Railroad Quilt

And the new trailer was open to visitors

Terry (with coffee), Ernie, Walter and Hunk

Then folks moved on to coffee and visiting with friends

Jerry & Judy Booth, Doug Johnson & Carl with Hunk and Terry at the tables

There was a combined train and circus display courtesy of Art Shean and Norman Waycott.

Frank Howard, Mary Garland ,  Art & Dahlia Handman, and Philip Lentz

Frank Howard running his Volkswagen Bus

Norman setting up the Sideshow

Lunch was hamburgers, hot dogs, and potluck dishes brought by the members. David Blue was our grill Master  He did spend a summer cooking for a railroad crew. Thanks to Carl & Pat Churchill for installing a new grill during the week before the Outing.

Scott Gould, Grace Miller, Ernie Bay, David Blue, Mike & Julie Curry

David Blue, Ernie Bay, Bill Goodrich, Scott Gould, and Joe Connolly

After lunch (and a little dessert), we moved on the to Annual Meeting. The election results were

President: Carl Churchill

Vice President: Art Handman

Treasurer: Dennis Farrell

Secretary: Terry Norton

Board Members: Ben Braithwaite, Hunk Erskine, Frank Howard, Mac McLaughlin and Norman Waycott.

The club offered thanks to Carl & Pat Churchill for holding the outing again at their home. And to Frank Howard for calling all the members to invite them to the Outing.

Then we moved on to the long-awaited auction. Mary Garland cheerfully issued numbers to each bidder.

Mary Garland, Frank Howard, Mike Curry, Paul Corbett & Jeff Jacobs

The auctioneers were from the slightly famous firm of Braithwaite, Howard and Norton.

Ben calling the bids with Frank & Terry holding the quilt

A relaxed auction crowd

Terry and Ben working the crowd

During the auction Ben discovered that the bidding team of  Walter Fossett and Scott Gould would bid a dollar on almost anything. So he started calling them "Dollar Store". They bid on and won a number of items. Scott also won one of the raffles, and gave the G-scale car he won to be auctioned.

Scott and Walter were using the electric Cushman cart. So here they are at the end of the auction, leaving with all their winnings.

Gigi Jackson donated a pair of railroad suspenders to the auction. They were won by Hunk Erskine, who always wears suspenders.

"Dollar Store" after the auction

At the end of the auction Frank Howard was presented with a special "Frank's" T-Shirt. It is from the Moxie Festival, and 

will help us remember his name. The shirt is from the new Frank's Restaurant in Lisbon Falls. It just opened at old Moxie Store location at the intersection of Routes 196 and 9 in the center of Lisbon Falls.

Scott Gould, Frank Howard

The outing wrapped up around 4 pm. Thanks to the many members who stayed to put away furniture and clean up.