THE 2009 BAKE AUCTION IS DRAWING NEAR!
FORT WORTH, TX - If you have ever been to a Jubilee Theatre production during the winter months, then you are sure to have heard about the annual Bake Auction that takes place during the second week of December every year. The Jubilee Bake Auction started nearly twenty years ago by Dorothy Peaches Sanders who envisioned the Bake Auction as a way for the local Fort Worth community to give back to the then financially fraught African-American theatre company founded by Rudy Eastman. Since those humble beginnings, the theatre has become a Fort Worth mainstay – and the Bake Auction has too!
It has grown to be one of the theatre’s most important fundraisers because it still captures that community feel. Melvylin Pace, the Bake Auction Chairperson for the last nineteen years, jokes that the Bake Auction is “organized chaos” made festive and fun by a lot of volunteers. “It’s a combination of Jubilee staff and community volunteers that have come together with holiday spirit and Jubilee Theatre in their hearts.” Melvylin has Jubilee in her heart as well. On the eve of the Bake Auction, you won’t find Melvylin peacefully sleeping in her bed. She (and her very loyal family) is usually up until the wee hours of the morning about 2 or 3 a.m. baking last minute goodies and picking up baked goods from foks all over town.
The Jubilee Bake Auction is one of a few in town that still require all of the edible confections to be homemade. This has been made easier because of the hard work of Erma Crosby and Margie Major and their generous friends in the Como and Stop Six communities of Fort Worth. Many of the baked goods that arrive for the Bake Auction appear every year from the same generous Jubilee friends. One year, Melvylin didn’t send out request letters, and like Christmas magic goodies still poured in.
In addition to the live auction, there is also a silent auction of baskets filled with themed gifts, a general store (for those who want to Buy It Now), and this year a special guest in a red suit will make an appearance – so don’t forget your wish list or your camera! There will be plenty of samples of the homemade pies, cakes, cookies, candies, and of course the famous pickles. The auction is free to the public and does include some competitive bidding, but it’s all for a good cause and in the spirit of the season. Come hungry and leave satisfied! The Jubilee Bake Auction will begin following the Sunday, December 13th matinee performance of Home for the Holidays.
