Wayside Pie Auction Sweet Deal For Bidders
Auctioneer Gene Kellogg holds up a deep-dish pie glistening with cherry topping.
“There is only one word for this: ‘decadent,”’ he says, waving the cream cheese dessert up and down slightly, feeling its weight.
“Do I hear five dollars?”
The bidding is fast and furious at the fund-raiser for the Wayside Community Center. With little coaxing from Kellogg, the pie goes for $17.
Next, he lifts a pumpkin pie for the 30 or so people in the crowd to admire.
Five dollars, six dollars, seven dollars…
“C’mon Paul,” says Ed Bloom, in the audience, egging on the competition. The sweet sells for $12.
Bloom, 81, glances back at his friend with a smile. This two-room building, about 7 miles north of the Division Street “Y” along Highway 395, has been a part of his life since 1922 when he was a first grader here at the Montfort School.
He’s never strayed far from the Wayside farm bought by his parents in 1919 when he was 4 years old.
The school closed in 1947 and students were absorbed into the growing Mead School District.
As the years passed the little schoolhouse filled a variety of roles, as the township hall, and a meeting place for the Half Moon Women’s Club, the Prairies Riders horse club and 4-H.
In 1982, area residents officially formed the Wayside Community Center.
Recently trouble stuck. In a series of Christmas-time burglaries, chairs, tables, dishes, trophies were stolen. Most of them antiques, donated or bought by the community through the decades.
As a final insult, the burglar tried to steal the old upright piano, rolling it out the door. It toppled and broke. It was found laying in the snow.
Some of the property has been recovered, but no arrests have been made.
Dave Reagan, Spokane County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said investigators are still trying to find an appraiser to determine the value of the property.
The Friday night pie auction raised a little more than $200 to help replace the stolen items.
In 1900, Wayside was a tiny town with a general store, church, postoffice and a large Odd Fellows Hall.
Little remains, except the old schoolhouse and the new volunteer Wayside Fire Station.
Kellogg moved to the Wayside area three years ago. It’s close to Spokane and his job, but with plenty of room for his horses.
After speaking up at a community center meeting, he quickly found himself elected vice president of the group.
He urges other newcomers to join community activities.
“People come out here to get their five acres of heaven, we just ask that they assimilate a little more,” says Kellogg. “Partake, get to know your neighbors.”
, DataTimes