SALISBURY DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE

Curtis and Susan Rand will once again prepare and deliver to your home a sumptuous dinner: their succulent Chicken Marbella for six. This dinner includes a salad and a lovely dessert, along with a fine wine. 

Minimum bid: $200.

Dee Salomon, known as the "Ungardener" writes, advocates, and consults on woodland restoration. Dee moved to Litchfield County a decade ago and began clearing invasive plant species from the woodland on her property. Nature responded to Dee’s remedial actions: tree seeds germinated and grew quickly, creating a much-needed understory of trees. Native shrubs and herbaceous plants began to grow, all in response to the eradication of the invasives. Based on her experience, Dee writes on the topic for several publications and has a monthly column in The Lakeville Journal. She was recently named Board Chair of Homegrown National Park, an organization whose mission is to activate people to remove invasives and plant natives in their own spaces, big or small.  Dee is offering a private backyard consultation on your property and a tutorial on both getting rid of invasives and approaching native plantings. Dee puts it best, “Native plants are ready. The moment you make space, they respond.” 

Minimum bid: $500.

John-Paul and Elvin are interdisciplinary visual artists whose deep curiosity and appreciation for the beauty that surrounds them weave through every aspect of their lives. Their way of being is distilled to its very essence in the clarity of painted works and sculptural explorations with a near-primitive affinity for the substance and mysteries of the natural world. Come for a morning or afternoon to walk with them on magical paths they’ve carved from the rich native abundance. Visit their studios and witness the myriad of projects underway, while stories unfold at every lush and unexpected turn.  Once a mutually agreed-upon date is set, a unique event will unfold:  Perhaps your discoveries are snow-covered and the evening ends with you warmly nestled inside while John-Paul stirs a pozole on the wood stove and serves from a Filipe Ortega bean pot, sharing memories of meals with Georgia O’Keeffe. Alternatively, plan a visit as spring emerges and conclude your studio exploration on the front porch of their sharecroppers’ cabin, surrounded by the early white blossoms of the shadblow amelanchier and the song of tree frogs as you are bathed in the best golden light of the day. Perhaps the magical evening will end with a musical performance by a surprise guest or the recitation of Dominican poetry. No matter how the adventure unfolds, you will head home with your eyes starry, your heart warmed, your mind dancing, and in your pocket, perhaps, a talisman of your time together. This "Ways of Being" event is coordinated by Victoria Selbach. An immersive experience for 2-4 guests.

 Minimum Bid: $400.

Thanks to the generosity of Robert Boyett, here's your chance to experience a Broadway show from the best seats in the house. Choose from among the top shows in New York. You and your date will be in producers' house seats — in the first 15 rows. Sit back and enjoy the show! The winning bidder will submit their request for a pair of tickets to a specific show on specific dates. Some sold-out shows may not be available. 

Minimum bid: $500.

James and Shrevie Shepherd take their last name seriously. This winter, their flock of sheep, now 147 strong, will grow in number when lambing season arrives. They invite your family to visit their young lambs and animal life on Smokedown Farm in Sharon.  Your visit will include high tea and an entertaining history of the lessons they have learned along the way. James is a physician at Yale School of Medicine, an infectious disease specialist and worldwide government advisor on TB and HIV for the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization. The couple spent years in Nigeria, Botswana, and India before moving to Sharon with their three sons. As a team, James and Shrevie rightly call themselves “regenerative farmers,” constantly trying out new crops and cultivars that work in a changing climate as well

as making the necessary soil considerations that allow for biodiversity. Smokedown Farm is a very happy place you'll love to visit. Four dogs will welcome you, but as far as the Shepherds know, their numbers are not increasing. 

Minimum bid: $175.

French-trained pastry chef Flora Lazar (and producer of Kings of Pastry, a documentary about France's oldest and most prestigious artisans' competition) will welcome you to the delicious, creative, and slightly magical world of French chocolate making! In this adventure, you’ll develop the superpower every chocolatier needs: tempering chocolate, which keeps chocolate shiny and snappy, but most importantly avoids that mysterious white fuzz on top. Spend an afternoon learning various forms of chocolate including molded bonbons and creamy ganache.  Then we level up with hand dipping, which opens the door to endless gift possibilities. Once you learn this skill, you can make endless chocolate gifts for friends, teachers, or anyone who deserves something sweet.  No more last-minute scrambles for host gifts! The class will be held for a group of up to six people. 

Minimum bid: $300.

Do you have a special occasion coming up next year, one that you would like to celebrate with elegance and style? Kathy and Michael Voldstad are offering a perennial auction favorite: a cocktail party for 20 people in the beautiful gardens at their home — the former Ragamont Inn. This will be an evening that you and your friends will never forget! 

Minimum bid: $400.

Enjoy a three-night stay for two people in your own private garden suite in NOPA — one of San Francisco's most desirable residential neighborhoods (named for its location North of the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park). Stay in a beautifully restored and recently renovated space located in an 1897 Victorian home on one of San Francisco's popular and very low-traffic "slow streets" featuring a beautiful new street mural painted by a local artist. You will be centrally located within walking distance to Golden Gate Park, Haight-Ashbury, popular shops, bars, and restaurants — and just steps to nearby Alamo Square Park, where you can take in the iconic view of San Francisco's "Painted Ladies" You will have convenient access to museums, Fisherman's Wharf, the SF Ferry Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Ocean Beach, and many other popular tourist destinations. Three-night stay (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday or Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights). Dates to be determined in collaboration with the unit owner. (The unit has no kitchen, but a coffee maker is provided, and an amazing coffee shop is just a block away.) Minimum bid: $300.

Every week, The Lakeville Journal publishes a cartoon by renowned cartoonist Peter Steiner, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Weekly Standard, and The Washington Times. His witty, dagger-on, social commentary of our national psyche's current follies make it the first page opened.  What does he say this week? Here's your opportunity to own an original, drawn by Peter for the pages of our very own local newspaper. We're offering a suite of four cartoons; the winning bidder gets first choice of which one to take home. The winning bid price will apply to each of the four cartoons, so if the winning bidder wants all of them, the total will be four times the winning bid. The next three highest bidders will then have their choice, in order, from the remaining cartoons in the suite. 

Minimum bid: $175.

Dan Dwyer and Jim Montanari will host six guests for lunch in their 18th-century farmhouse in the Salmon Kill Valley.  Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails will be followed by Tuscan bean and greens soup.  The main course will be porchetta with polenta and spiced broccoli rabe, served with your wine.  A delicious dessert of Torta Barozzi (flourless chocolate cake) with seasonal fruit and crème fraîche will complete the menu.  The date of the event (lunch or dinner) will be selected at least three weeks in advance and excludes the holiday season.

Minimum bid: $250.

Maria Horn, our intrepid State Representative and Democratic Town Committee member, will host lunch for six at the state capitol. You'll take an insider's tour of our beautiful, historic State House and then stay for lunch with Maria. 

Minimum bid: $200.

Do you — or someone you know — have a television or movie script that you dream of taking to the next level? Win an in-depth script analysis with Jennifer Ventimilia, veteran creator/writer/producer of TV and film for more than twenty years. Nominated for two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Children’s Animation, she has a wide array of credits in prime-time television, feature films and animation, including The Simpsons, Murphy Brown, 3rd Rock From the Sun, That ‘70s Show, Surviving Christmas, Rio, The Tooth Fairy, The Real O’Neals, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Raising Dion. Jen will read your original script and analyze its strengths and weaknesses, focusing on story, theme, character development and arcs, emotional and through-lines, dialogue, and clarity.  Then, you’ll sit down with her (in person or via Zoom) for a one-on-one notes session, and review your script page by page. In the process, you’ll hear the stories and anecdotes from Jen's long career in Hollywood that taught her how to make a good story great! 

Minimum bid: $175.

Nothing says speed better than Lime Rock Park. You can get into the action as a "Member for a Day" at the Drivers Club at Lime Rock Park. It will include four hours of on-track coaching during a Club Day at Lime Rock Park, with an instructor sitting next to you in the right-seat.  Drive your personal sports car or a track day car that you rent. Either way, you will get helmet-to-helmet coaching from one of Lime Rock’s professional drivers.  This special experience even includes private club hospitality, food and drink. But there's more! You will also get four general admission tickets to a Lime Rock Park public event in 2027. Choose from Trans-Am Classic (Memorial Day Weekend), NASCAR Weekend (July 8-9) or Historic Festival 45 (Labor Day Weekend) Vroom-vroom!  

Minimum bid: $500. 

You and your guests will join hosts Neil and Patsy Schechter for a serene evening cruise on Twin Lakes. They will point out landmarks on the lake and provide sunset sangrias (or other drinks) and delicious hors d'oeuvres. This cruise is for a total of six people. Date to be mutually agreed upon. 

Minimum bid: $200

Take an inside tour of StudioEIS, an elite sculpture and design studio in Brooklyn, followed by coffee and conversation with founder Ivan Schwartz. He is a sculptor, painter, and designer with a keen interest in American history and the use of sculpture in the development of our national symbols and historical storytelling — and is a Lakeville resident. On the tour, you will see a multidisciplinary workshop including sculptors, painters, costumers, carpenters, illustrators, model-makers, and digital artists — enhanced by specialists in waxwork, metal fabrication, and bronze casting. A project will often include collaboration with scholars in anthropology, costume history, and forensic science. Over the past 50 years, its commissions have included works for such major museums and cultural institutions as the Obama Library, FDR Library, Gettysburg National Military Park, African American Burial Ground Interpretive Center, National Civil Rights Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History, among many others. It has also created works for major corporate customers, including SONY, Discovery Channel, Martha Stewart, and the Bellagio Hotel. The studio's work has even appeared on postage stamps! Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience the intersection of fine art, history, and industrial craftsmanship. This tour for a group of six people will be scheduled by mutual agreement between the winner and the studio. 

Minimum bid: $300.