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MANSFIELD — Lloyd “Buttons” Blevins paced back and forth behind the bar, waving a homemade apple pie in the air.
Bidders hiked the price higher and higher. They stood, wedged shoulder-to-shoulder between the booths and the barstools, cocktails and wine glasses in hand.
In the end, Mark Kroger walked away with a $2,000 apple pie.
Blevins wasn’t surprised.
“I knew if he wanted it, he was going to get it,” he said.
The annual Chinatown Bake Auction is a jovial, raucous, standing-room-only affair.
Every year, patrons cram Mansfield’s Chinatown Restaurant and pay top dollar, knowing the funds all go to a good cause.
There were 77 items sold during this year’s auction, including cakes, pies, cookies and even some Thanksgiving-themed jello shots.
Sales generated more than $19,000 for The New Store, which provides clothing, coats, school supplies and Christmas presents to Richland County children in need.
The New Store has been the longstanding beneficiary of the auction, which is always held the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
“People buy desserts here so they don’t have to make them for Thanksgiving,” said Mae Nar Leedy, the restaurant’s owner.
Leedy said the restaurant has prepared for desserts for the auction in the past, but hasn’t needed to in recent years.
Community members contribute homemade goods by the dozens, dropping them off at the restaurant in the days leading up to the auction.
Auction began in 1997 as a friendly competition
Blevins and Leedy have been at the heart of the auction since its inception in 1997.
It all started when Blevins and a friend, Rosemary Harsney, were arguing over dinner at Chinatown about who made the best chili. So Leedy suggested a chili cook-off to settle the matter.
Word got out and soon, there were 10 cooks involved. The cooks raised $310 for the Salvation Army’s Brighten-A-Christmas program. But in the end, there was no clear winner.
Harsney wanted a rematch. She challenged Blevins to a bake off. He refused.
So she made offered a counteroffer — she’d round up a group of bakers and Blevins could be the auctioneer.
“I told her she was crazy,” Blevins said. “Me, an auctioneer?”
Blevins did his best, generating $7,000 in sales during the first dessert auction in December 1997.
By 2014, the annual auction had raised a collective total of $130,000 for local charities. Blevins estimated that to date, the figure probably hovers above $200,000.
Blevins spent the first hour of Tuesday’s auction selling items, then handed it over to The New Store board chair Rick Sjostedt.
Nevertheless, Blevins still insists he’s not an auctioneer.
“I just try to shame them into it or I try to get them to have an extra drink or two,” he said.
When all else fails, Blevins stokes a bidding war. These days, it’s the buyers who bring a competitive spirit to the event.
“People battle it out for certain desserts that are super popular,” said Kelly Andress, The New Store’s executive director.
For many buyers, the auction has become something of a holiday tradition.
“It’s for a good cause and it helps a lot of kids in Richland County,” said John Burkhart. “Year after year they do it and you get to take something sweet home.”
