Three weeks away from the 75th Annual Back Mountain Library Memorial Auction, some friends of the library have planned how they will volunteer – Set up? Clean? Provide a stand?

Some are hoping to win a raffle and perhaps win a Victorian diamond necklace, circa 1890, or perhaps the quilt that library supporter Leslie Horoshko made much more recently.

And some, like Brian Davis, remember the adventures of past auctions.

“I came of age during the library auction,” he recalls Monday night at Apple Tree Terrace in Newberry Estate, where library supporters gathered for a launch dinner and mini-auction. “When we were 12, 13, we would then go to the cemetery and play spinning the bottle. I had my first kiss.

Her brother, Mike, recalled a less romantic story from his youth.

“I bought a big upholstered chair for a quarter at the ‘children’s auction’. Then I charged my friends a dime each to sit in it for a while, ”he said, explaining how they were able to look at the auction process from that point of view. “I won a dollar.”

Along with a third brother, Jonathan, the Davis’ will sponsor at the auction a tribute to their late mother, Dorothy L. Davis, a former English teacher in the Dallas School District, who fueled their enthusiasm for reading. .

This year’s auction, which will begin at 4 p.m. daily, August 12-15, will also include a tribute to artist Sue Hand, who painted a live auction scene, during the festivities, and gave it to auction, for 31 years. This will be the last year for her to do so, and her painting will go up for auction on August 15, as the grand finale of the auction.

The auction will be a place to find antiques, jewelry, bric-a-brac, plants, “almost old” items, new products, books, food trucks, children’s activities and more, including Leslie Horoshko’s latest quilt donation.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous,” Shickshinny’s Carol Lavery said on Monday as she arrived at the launch dinner and admired the quilt.

“It will keep you warm on a winter night,” said Andrea Mosca, a member of the Dallas Library Board of Trustees, which sold raffle tickets.

While last year’s library auction was small, due to the COVID pandemic, it did take place nonetheless, so this year marks the 75th annual event.

“I love its longevity,” said Connie Scott of Dallas as she and her husband, Durelle, examined the auction items on display Monday night.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the auction is invited to call the library at 570-675-1182.