Geneva Auction set for Jan. 9, 10

For four days in January, the Geneva Bar and Grill is a maelstrom of emotion and energy.

“We have a lot of sad stories,” says planning committee secretary/treasurer Barb Kuchenbecker. “And we often cry happy tears.”

 

The 2026 Geneva Cancer Auction will be January 9, 10, 16 and 17–two consecutive Fridays and Saturdays. Sales will begin at 7 p.m. on Fridays and 2 p.m. on Saturdays, wrapping up around 8 p.m. on Jan. 17, when the winners of this year’s raffle will be announced.

 

Fellow committee member Jayne Busho and Kuchenbecker both mention that, in addition to the many auction items already donated, more are welcome right up to the last minutes of the sale. Anyone wishing to find out more can contact Kuchenbecker at 507-383-2221.

“We never know what’s going to come through the door,” comments Busho regarding the many donations given by businesses and individuals from Ellendale, Geneva, Hartland, Hollandale, Hope, New Richland and the surrounding areas who wish to support the cause.

 

This will be year 42 for the annual fundraiser, which collected $167,000 in 2025. Altogether, the event has donated nearly $2.5 million, giving the funds to the Eagles Cancer Telethon, which divides its donations among the University of Minnesota, the Hormel Cancer Institute, and the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Care Center in Rochester.

 

Volunteers perform all work to plan, operate and administer the annual auctions, so Busho and Kuchenbecker explain every penny raised goes toward the organization’s stated mission: eradicating cancer. “There are too many people to even begin naming them,” says Busho. “Everyone who has helped with the auction–by donating, buying, or volunteering–has made a difference.”

 

The two say energy is always high during the auctions, with auctioneers and buyers alike wanting to see items go for more than their market value. Some items, they go on to say, truly have no price since they are homemade. Furniture, decorative items and tools, quilts and throws, foods including bread or cookies still warm from nearby ovens, beverages mixed or brewed from special recipes.

 

“You name it, we may well have sold it at one of our auctions,” observes Kuchenbecker. “There’s something there to appeal to anyone.”

 

She mentions a specific portion of the auction which concentrates on farming or landscaping supplies donated by area feed mills, chemical suppliers, and construction companies. That section, she says, will begin at 3 p.m. on Jan. 10. “We have farmers who purposely wait to order supplies, so they can buy them during the auction,” says Kuchenbecker.

 

This year three women have signed up to have their hair cut during the auction. Two will take place after the farm auction, and another around 4 p.m. the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 17. In honor of a mother and grandmother who died from cancer, the women are donating their long hair to make wigs for people who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy treatments. Hairstylists will be donating their time to cut the hair in a way that makes it usable. During the haircuts, donations will be collected from the crowd.

 

Raffle tickets will continue to be sold throughout the auction. The four prizes range from $1,000 to $200.

 

Kuchenbecker and Busho mention that in recent years there have been so many donations that there is not time to sell them all during the four January days prior to the Eagles Telethon. A “mini auction” has been held for the past several years, usually on the first Sunday in April. This year, Easter falls on that date, so the decision has been made to hold it on the last Sunday in March, the 29th.

 

Between them, Busho and Kuchenbecker have been volunteering for a total of more than 50 years, and if the time of the full 10-member planning committee were added up, it would be in the centuries.

 

“There’s no one whose life has not been touched by cancer,” says Kuchenbecker. “We’re working toward a day when no one has to go through the pain and loss caused by this disease.”

 

The group plans and operates numerous other events. “Purse Bingo” is held in November; the 2025 sale raised more than $7,000. A raffle with a prize of either cash or a pallet of beer is held in July. A golf tournament takes place in August. A mum sale occurs in September; this year 225 mums were purchased in less than half an hour. A wild game feed takes place in Geneva the first Saturday in December. Numerous area organizations sponsor their own events and donate the proceeds in support of the cause.