FORKS — Hundreds of bids — from $3,600 for a car to $45 for smoked fish — added up to about $80,000 in proceeds at the 51st annual Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction.
The 87 members of the Forks High School Class of 2015 will each be eligible for about $1,000 in scholarship funds from the auction held Saturday and Sunday at Forks High School, said Jerry Leppell, a longtime member of the auction committee.
One of the more unique of the 1,094 items donated for the auction was a moss-covered phone booth from Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center.
The phone booth became a donation to the auction after it was removed by contractors during a remodel of the visitor center,
Leppell said.
After spirited bidding, the top bidder paid $600 for the iconic phone booth, he said.
A white 2004 Pontiac Grand Am sedan donated by Wilder Auto of Port Angeles sold for $3,600 for the auction’s highest price tag.
There were also a lot of small items, including blackberry pies and light bulbs, as well as many wooden toys, birdhouses, jewelry boxes and metal decorative items created by inmates at the Olympic Corrections Center south of Forks.
“It all adds up,” Leppell said.
The 2014 auction raised a record-breaking $88,000, Leppell said.
This year’s auction was not quite as grand but met this year’s goal, he said.
The auction funds scholarships to Forks High graduates to pay for college costs, vocational school fees or tools for graduates heading off to work.
Any Forks High graduate is eligible to receive a scholarship as many as two times based on financial need, grades and participation in past auctions.
The auction was not possible without donations from businesses and individuals, and those who called or arrived to bid, Leppell said.
Donations to the scholarship fund are still accepted.
Anyone who wants to donate can mail a check to QVSA, P.O. Box 976, Forks, WA 98331.
Since its beginning, organizers said, the auction has raised more than $1 million.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.