Small Town, Big Heart

For those living in the small North Western town of Minden Louisiana, the first weekend in February is basically a town holiday. But not for the reason you might think. This town to-do isn’t for football or Mardi Gras, though there will be cookouts and people dancing in the streets. No, the reason everyone from Webster Parish and surrounding areas gather together is for THE MINDEN ST. JUDE AUCTION (I think legally it has to be in all caps, so everyone knows just how big of a deal this is).

Actually, “auction” doesn’t do justice to the four-day long event that is the Minden St. Jude auction. These four days are jam packed with auctions and raffles, cookouts, contests, races and more, all culminating in the announcement of the grand prize winner of $50,000 or a brand-new luxury vehicle. But the real win is the over 1 million dollars raised for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This little town of just over 13,000 people has raised over one million dollars annually since 2012, which is the first year they broke the million dollar mark. In fact, the phrase you’ll hear most often associated with Minden St. Jude is “most money per capita.” That’s because Minden raises more money per capita than any other town in the United States.

It all started 45 years ago when a small-town radio host raffled off plants, pies, and quilts to raise money after his daughter returned from St. Jude. They had such an amazing experience there that he wanted to do something to give back. So, he asked friends and family to donated homemade goods. The local radio station then spent one day raffling items off to listeners. This little town gave nearly ten thousand dollars that first year, but they didn’t stop there.

Today you can still hear the Minden St. Jude auction on the local radio station, but you can also watch live on the local cable channel nearly anywhere in the world via their live stream on YouTube. In fact, there have been over six thousand internet orders since online ordering began in 2015. And they’ve receive donations from all 50 states and 34 countries. Minden holds the bragging rights as St. Jude’s most successful fund raiser for the hospital. To date Minden has raised over 20 million dollars for the Tennessee Hospital.

Each February the Minden Civic Center is transformed into the nerve center for all the goings on of this multimedia event. The Minden St. Jude auction has a sound of its own. The murmuring of friends and neighbors visiting in the auditorium, the hometown personalities announcing the latest auction items up for bid, the ringing and answering of the pledge phones, and of course the sound of multiple cow bells ringing when a new “Partner in Hope” is announced.

Every year hundreds of people give their time, money, and talent to this amazing cause. Planning starts at least ten months in advance organizing and sending out sponsor letters. Individual and business sponsors give thousands of dollars every year on top of donating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of raffle and auction items. You would be hard pressed to find a merchant in Minden that does not, in some way, donate goods or services to the cause.

But you don’t have to give hundreds of dollars to get involved. Everyone in town plays a part. Small children collect change and host lemonade stands. There are countless homemade items; art, baked good, quilts, blankets, etc. All the schools hold their own events raising money and present check to the St. Jude auction. I, myself, have very fond memories from high school of working on the backdrop artwork for St. Jude and decorating the Civic Center during art class.

Each year Minden welcomes thousands of visitors who come to town for the auction and numerous events over the weekend. Over a thousand people participate in the Minden Run for St. Jude which includes a 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and fun run. Children of all ages enjoy Kid’s Day which is jam packed with fun actives like face painting, games, and bounce houses. Think you’ve got the best chili recipe of all time? Enter the St. Jude Chili Cook-off and see if you can take home one of the coveted hot chili pepper awards. Even if you don’t have a great chili recipe, you can still vote for your favorite. And don’t worry, drinks are available if you get some of that Louisiana tobacco hot sauce chili. This weekend you’ll also hear performances by local singers, musicians, and entertainers. There’s even a blood drive if you’re not too squeamish.

I couldn’t even begin to calculate the worth of all the items sold, raffled, and auctioned off over this long weekend. Endless donated items are placed, four at a time, on “the board” and auctioned off in one-to-two-minute increments throughout the day, every day, in what seems like an endless supply of food, jewelry, art, gifts, good, and more. Items ranging from tens to hundreds of dollars. And very few items get final bids of less than their face value. The larger ticket items, the ones worth thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, are raffled of in over 150 raffles. Items ranging from art to ammo, cash to cookware, guns to go-carts, landscaping to Louis Vuitton, even boats and RVs. That’s not even including the “Partner in hope,” which is $240 or $20/month for an entry to win one of three prizes; $5,000, a trip for four to Disney World, or a TV/Media package, or the grand prize, $25 for the chance at $50,000 or a new vehicle. And let’s not forget the kid’s favorite, the playhouse.

The playhouse is almost big enough to be a tiny house and really is a work of heart from the community. Built by the fire department with wood donated by the local lumbar store. Roofing and plumbing done by local contractors. Painted and decorated by volunteers. Furniture and trappings donated by the antique store. And the finishing touches put on by local artists, to go with that year’s auction theme, gives it that artistic flare.

Each year’s theme is fun and different. Themes of the past few years have included, “The Little Town that Could,” “Camping for a Cure,” “Throw Me a Cure, Mister!” (that’s a Mardi Gras reference for those of you not from Louisiana), and this year’s theme, “Roundup for a Cure.” Missing out on the thematic Minden St. Jude t-shirt is a fashion don’t in Webster Parish.

You can’t talk about a party in Louisiana without talking about the food. She may be one of the most northern parishes in the state, but she still knows how to dish out some real Cajun goodies. The ladies in the kitchen can cook up some fresh home-made beignets that’ll make you think you’re in the French Quarter. And there’s always fresh coffee to go with the King cakes, pralines, and other concessions at the Civic Center. If it’s not time for a plate of Ribs, BBQ, Gumbo, or Jambalaya then they’ll be a food truck or snowball stand to tide you over until the next meal. If breakfast is your favorite, the Minden Medical Center Pancake breakfast is where you want to be. You’ll never go hungry at this fund raiser, Bon appetite!

And don’t think that just because there’s a global pandemic going on they’re going to take it easy this year. Nope, despite the global pandemic no one wanted to let the Minden St. Jude auction pass by this year. The St. Jude committee and the city of Minden were determined to carry on. Even though everything else at the Minden Civic Center was canceled and the Minden St. Jude auction would be the first event to be held there since March 2020, the Minden St. Jude auction carried on. Even though the St. Jude representatives from Tennessee were not allowed to travel in and despite the city restrictions for the number of people allowed in the Civic Center, the Minden St. Jude auction carried on. There were changes that had to be made this year, no Kid’s Day of Chili cook off, but Minden still showed up. Teams were put in place to sanitize phone stations, people were out in charge of taking temps, petitions were put up to separate volunteers, announcers on stage had to sit 6 feet apart, masks had to be worn, but Minden St. Jude carried on. Public access to the Civic Center was prohibited and the auction had to be virtual only, drop off and pick up for items donated and won had to be organized for drive in, but Minden St. Jude carried on. T-shirt and meal sales were dispersed to different sites throughout Minden at churches and businesses, but Minden St. Jude carried on. And people showed up! Despite the setbacks of the pandemic, Minden raised $1,604,349 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. And that’s just the kind of win we needed for 2021.

No one says, “Laissez les bon temp rouler!” like we do in Louisiana, and in Minden we let it roll for a great cause. While the rest of the world may associate that phrase with Mardi Gras and New Orleans, in Minden we think there’s no better time than at the Minden St. Jude Auction. If you ever find yourself in Northwest Louisiana during Superbowl weekend, come on over to Minden. You’ll meet friendly people, have a good time and good food and, who knows, you may even go home with a new car. Minden may be a small town, but we have big hearts for St. Jude.