Huge auction next Friday will raise money for Sleepy Hollow playground

Everyone in Annandale—and beyond—is invited to a Live and Silent Auction at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School next Friday, April 8, 6:30-9 p.m. The school’s PTA organized the auction to raise money to replace the school’s 20-year-old playground.

You can begin bidding now for about 20 items online through eBay’s non-profit service. You can view and bid on these items through the Sleepy Hollow PTA website.

Online auction items include Disney World Park Hopper passes, a hockey puck signed by Capitals star Matt Bradley, a behind-the-scenes tour of WJLA-Channel 7, a stay at the Red Fox Inn in Middleburg, jewelry, tickets to the International Spy Museum, a weekend in Charlottesville/Monticello, LegoLand tickets, a stay at the Briar Patch Bed and Breadfast in Middleburg, and crystal champagne flutes engraved with “William and Kate” for the royal wedding (purchased in England just for this auction).

Admission to the Live and Silent Auction next Friday evening is free, and everyone who registers for the event can enter a raffle (one ticket per family). Two raffle prizes will be awarded, one for a child and one for an adult.

The Silent Auction features more than 100 items. Here’s a sampling of some of the things you can bid on:

• Adventure—learn to drive 100 mph at the Richard Petty Driving School; white water rafting in Harper’s Ferry; behind-the-scene tours of the National Zoo, NPR, and DC101; passes to all five Northern Virginia water parks; winery tour by limousine; Kings Dominion passes.
• Cool things—iPod; Nook e-reader; leather recliner; massages; room/house staging.
• Art and culture—tickets to “Wicked” at the Kennedy Center along with a commemorative CD and poster; tickets to any performance at Signature Theatre; a “tea and manners” party.
• Lessons, classes, camps—swimming lessons with Bobby Broome, author of Learn to Swim in 8 Lessons; horseback riding camp; private golf lessons; cooking classes.
• Food—special dinners; restaurant gift certificates; Keurig coffeemaker.
• Dolphin fun—activities with Sleepy Hollow teachers, including a basketball party, story and picnic, lunch and flag football, miniature golf and ice cream, and much more.

The Live Auction, to begin at 7:30 p.m., features the “infamous” Joni Foerter as auctioneer. Live auction items include a hand-painted Adirondack chair from Sleepy Hollow art teacher Mr. Tribastone; a stint as “principal for a day,” and a “mega-surprise item.”

For a complete auction catalogue, contact Virginia Mayer.