Don’t Miss the Rotary Auction, There’s a Deal for Everyone, Plus Music at Winslow Green Gazebo, The Pavilion and More!

If you’ve never attended the Bainbridge Island Rotary Auction and Rummage Sale, you’re in for a treat, that is if you enjoy shopping for “deals” and don’t mind crowds of people and lots of traffic.

The Auction and Rummage Sale – an iconic event on the island – will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday July 12 at Woodward Middle School on Sportsman Club Road N.E. You can preview the six acres of merchandise, books, furniture and household goods from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight, on Friday July 11, and get a feel for what you might want to buy. The “Rotary Auction,” as most locals call it, is a place where Americana intersects with pure Capitalism.

You can almost picture Norman Rockwell sketching a scene of would-be shoppers scurrying about the school’s landscape on auction day looking for that one item or two they spied during the preview and are hoping against hope is still there.

Amazingly, most of the “treasurers” on display come from the homes, garages, and storage facilities of Bainbridge Islanders, who have learned over the years to squirrel away auction items for the Rotary and donate them during the five-day drop off period – that ended this past Wednesday afternoon

Walk around the site for a time and you’ll see a veritable cornucopia of products from A to Z. The scene has the look and feel of a large emporium or perhaps a Turkish Bazaar. There’s a huge tent located on the south parking lot that is filled with fine furnishings, gleaned from curbside donations by a small army of dedicated volunteers.

Behind it, is a sea of furniture: tables of every sort and size, couches, desks, chairs, hutches, filing cabinets and the like. Not far away, are loads of skis, golf clubs, fishing gear, backpacks and outdoor and exercise equipment. Across the lot is a whole area devoted to lawn and garden stuff, along with barbecues, pet supplies and more.

Walk around to the north end parking lot and you’ll see cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, kayaks and trailers for sales. There’s another area devoted to building materials, with a string of doors, leaning against a fence. Out in a nearby field are hundreds of bicycles – both kids and adults – available for purchase, along with accessories, such helmets and other biking gear. Next door, on the same lawn, are dozens of tents, coolers and other camping equipment.

If that wasn’t enough, walk inside and the gym is full of books, music and kids’ toys. Below, on an outside basketball court, are tables full of clothing of every sort imaginable. And there’s more. Inside the school – in classrooms – are specialty items, such as musical instruments, fine chinaware, electronics, and much more.

The auction is broken down into about 35 departments that contain the merchandise, and it takes some 2,000 volunteers hundreds of hours to sort through the material, clean it and ready it for sale. Rotary officials say the Fine Furniture Tent typically brings in the most money during the auction, closely followed by vehicle sales. But all departments – regardless of their size and status – contribute to the bottom line.

Last year, Rotarians grossed more than $800,000 during the six-hour affair. The club keeps breaking its own record for donations seemingly every year. There’s no telling what Rotarians will bring in this year, what with good weather in the forecast and a fairly stable local economy.

If past years are any indication, the auction could draw between 7,000 and 8,000 people and cause traffic delays in and around the middle school. And many customers come from afar to attend this unique event, including out-of-state antique dealers and fans who devote a few days of vacation to visiting the island and romping around the site.

So, what happens to all the goodies that aren’t purchased during the auction’s peak hours? Some 50 different non-profit organizations – affectionately known as “Harvesters” (all of whom wear special badges) – move in at approximately 3 pm and begin snapping up clothing, bikes, furniture, skis and whatever else is available and loading the largess onto awaiting trucks. At about 9 or 9:30 p.m., the site is then opened to anyone from the public who wants to rummage through the remaining leftovers.

The next morning, compactor trucks from Bainbridge Disposal move onto the site and clean up the excess stuff and take it to the dump, so that the Rotary Club can return the school back to its Principal and teachers. Drive by Woodward on the Sunday afternoon following the auction, and you’d never know there was an event of such magnitude held there.

Proceeds from the auction help support numerous local and regional causes, as well as the Rotary’s international programs. But at the end of the day, it’s about the experience of donating, volunteering and shopping. As one Rotarian put it, “one thing’s for certain about the auction, there’s a deal for everyone!”

PREVIEW NIGHT!  Friday, July 11th from 5pm to 7pm. Come tour the campus and see all the inventory across 35 departments. This is a great way to make your plan for sale day. Admission is free, but donations are gladly accepted.

PARKING: Parking and traffic will be difficult on the roads around Woodward so we highly encourage shoppers to use our park-n-ride. Five busses will be running the loop from 5:30 am to 3:30pm. New this year is parking and a shuttle stop at Bainbridge High School and a shuttle stop at the ferry terminal. Get all the details and a map here: Parking, Shuttles, and Traffic

IT’S GONNA BE HOT! Please bring a refillable water bottle to the sale – we have several refilling stations.

Summer Music Series Concerts Continue at Winslow Green, The Pavilion, plus Eagle Harbor Winery, etc.

Fridays 6-8p {June 6-Aug 22, 2025}
Winslow Green Gazebo, Winslow Way West + Madison

Jul 11 | Ranger and the ‘Re-Arrangers’
Jul 18 | Whozyamama Cajun Band
Jul 25 | Mark Soltys
Aug 1 | Psycho Sushi
Aug 8 | Bluefish
Aug 15 | Whammy Bars
Aug 22 | Honey Moon

Bainbridge Pavilion Concerts
Saturdays 6-8 p.m.
Summer Courtyard, 403 Madison Ave

Eagle Harbor Wine Co.
Sundays, 2pm {June 1-Sept 21, 2025}
Winery Tasting Room, 8897 Three Tree Ln NE

Jul 13 | M Kelly Rogers and Lisa Mandelkorn
Jul 20 | Jason Meeks & Salish Sea Greens (12p-5p)
Jul 27 | EDUARDO MENDONÇA & Brasil Comes to You (12p-5p)
Aug 3 | Mark Soltys
Aug 10 | Teen Talking Circles (Fundraiser)
Aug 17 | The Pontunes
Aug 24 | PAT Timmons
Aug 31 | Songbird
Sept 7 | Jason Meeks
Sep 14 | Harmony Wombats
Sep 21 | Mark Soltys