Baxter Church Harvest Day auction this Saturday

Dunmore, W.Va. –

Pocahontas County Presbyterians built Baxter Presbyterian Church in 1858, two years before the awful cataclysm of the Civil War. During the war, Union troops used the church for a hospital. After the war, parishioners installed a new floor because blood stains could not be sanded out.

Beautiful Baxter Church remains a stalwart reminder of our past and a beloved place of worship in the tiny, picture postcard village of Dunmore. Church members invite everyone to attend the 77th Annual Harvest Day at Baxter Church on Saturday, September 29.

Event organizer Kestra Pritchard describes the day’s events.

“We have a service and then a fantastic dinner and we feed between 100-150 people,” she said. “There’s no charge. And then go out to the Dunmore Community Center and that’s where we have our auction. We have an auctioneer and our auction lasts, probably, two or three hours and the last item sold is our quilt. The community quilt is something that’s been done since Grannie Grimes did the first one and said, ‘now, you girls are going to have to pitch in and everybody do a square,’ and we still do. This year, Sharon Hively put it together for us.”

A lucky shopper recently purchased a $75,000 Renoir painting at a West Virginia flea market for seven dollars. Pritchard says unusual items are often found at the Baxter Church auction.

“All kinds of canned goods, jellies, jams and pickles,” she said. I’ve made some hot peppers, that I’m going to put in. We have comforters, venison jerky and cookies and all kinds of baked pastry and our crown jewel is the salt rising bread. It has gone for as much as $90.

“We never know what’s going to show up. Somebody may decide to put anything in the auction. Our daughter has a friend that is a collector or everything – all kinds of things. Sometimes, she’ll decide she doesn’t want that collection anymore and she sends it, via Beth, to Harvest Day. So, we’ve had everything from soup to nuts, including soup and nuts.”

Kestra’s helper and husband George backs up what his wife said.

“Well, like she said, we have everything available, just about,” he said. “And we never know just what’s going to be there.”

You might find livestock for sale.

“One year, we sold a colt,” said Kestra. “Our minister at that time had a baby colt and he said, ‘the first goes to the Lord,’ so the first colt went to the Lord. He bought it, but he put it up for sale.”

Kestra encourages everyone to attend.

“Anybody and everybody that wants to come to any or all parts,” she said. “They can come for the service and the dinner. We’d like them to bring their checkbook and come to the sale. But, if they don’t, we would have the fellowship of having them for our dinner and we’re proud of our dinner. We have good food. The service is at 11:00. The dinner is approximately 12:00 – that’s about as long as they talk. And then we start the sale a little after 1:00 to 1:30.”

That’s the 77th Annual Baxter Church Harvest Day – Saturday, September 29. Worship service and guest speaker at 11 a.m.; homemade dinner at noon and an auction at 1:30 p.m. at the Dunmore Community Center.