For over 20 years the Denali Education Center hosted an annual fundraising auction that become a cornerstone for the Denali community allowing people to gather and celebrate with friends, have fun, and fundraise! The funds raised at the auction allowed us to make campus improvements and helped to ensure we were able to provide informative and inspiring programs to the local community and its visitors.

Over the years, we raised many thousands of dollars. In 2019 alone, we raised $30,000!

The auction was a labor of love…it brought us together in so many ways and contributed to our educational programs. It also physically and emotionally drained staff and volunteers. Galas are a toll on those who plan and execute them, to the point that nonprofit advocate Vu Le said in his blog, “There’s been a general agreement that auctions…would make good deterrents for crimes: ‘You have been found guilty of armed robbery. I sentence you to be the event planner of four consecutive fundraising galas!'”

We look forward to hosting the auction again when the time is right. If you or anyone you know would like to volunteer up to nine months of consistent labor to organize our next auction, please contact executive director Jodi Rodwell at jodi@denali.org. Until then, share your auction memories! Jersey Jones! The free beer years! Tony Crocetto and the art auction! The outhouses (we dig the hole)! The zany themes! The food! The Talkeetna Roadhouse Pies! The community…all of it…so, so good! We miss it. And we revel in the memories.