Our Daily Show Interview! Sweet 16 of the Original Quarter Auction Set for Aug 6th!
WOOD RIVER - The Original Quarter Auction is celebrating its 16th anniversary with a Sweet 16 bash.
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On Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, community members can come by the Wood River Moose for a quarter auction featuring 25 vendors and plenty of fun. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the auction starts at 7 p.m. Organizer Andrea, who invented the quarter auction, can’t wait to celebrate its 16th year.
“The more you bid, the more you win,” she said. “It’s been fun.”
Sixteen years ago, Andrea attended a Tupperware party where attendees were bidding on items using quarters, but she felt it was “so disorganized.” She spent the next two weeks workshopping a new kind of event that would eventually become the quarter auction. Quarter auctions have since gained popularity across the Midwest.
When attendees arrive on Aug. 6, they will purchase a paddle for $1. The live auction will begin at 7 p.m., and Andrea’s daughter, Anna Lynn, will call the 100 available auction items.
If you’d like to bid, you put in the corresponding number of quarters. For example, if an item is valued between $1 and $25, you put in one quarter. If it is valued at $26 to $50, you put in two, and so on, up to items valued at $100.
There will be 25 vendors at the event, including candles, permanent jewelry, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, and many more. Eleven-year-old Anna Lynn is selling dirty sodas. Anna Lynn explained that her sodas are well-loved by her friends, and she looks forward to sharing them with others.
“I had a pool party on the last day of school, and I made dirty sodas for all my friends. I thought it would be a good idea to do it for more people,” she said. “You take different syrups and put it into a soda and you can take half-and-half cream or just regular whole milk and put it into a soda, and it makes it really sweet.”
Anna Lynn will also serve as this year’s auctioneer. Andrea expressed pride in her daughter, noting that Anna Lynn has mastered Andrea’s technique.
“Honestly, people have copied me for the last 15 years with quarter auctions, and no one has stood up there and done it the way I do,” Andrea said. “She literally does it word for word. It’s so cool.”
Andrea is also selling VIP tables. For $10, you receive two paddles, a dirty soda, and a spot at one of the VIP tables. She encourages people to reach out as soon as possible if they wish to reserve a VIP table.
With a Candyland theme and a wide variety of items available, the Original Quarter Auction promises to be a fun night for all who attend. Andrea expects to welcome over 300 people. For more information about the Sweet 16 Celebration or the Original Quarter Auction, visit the official Facebook event page.
