“Dollar bills are one of the grosser things we have in our society,” James Dunmore said to a small audience last Friday night as he co-hosted the CAC Reverse Auction, directly before auctioning off the opportunity to hold a dollar bill against a wall with your nose for fifteen minutes. The bet went to Andrew Nord for an Amazon gift card with a minute value.
This was only the beginning of a short but lively event hosted by CAC that saw students participate in an auction of doing silly activities or challenges for Amazon gift cards, with the challenge and gift card going to the lowest bid. The auction and activities within were supposedly inspired by Ethel Showalter’s will for CAC– to do mischievous and fun things– and as each activity, each crazier than the last, got introduced with drum rolls, those sentiments were well-embodied.
The auction started off with an energetic introduction to the two costumed hosts, James Dunmore and Isaac Andreas, as they danced and detailed the lore of the event and what to expect of the night. While expectations were high after such an entrance, the first challenge was fairly simple– eat a plate of pork fried liver. Second-year Luke Wheeler confidently placed his bid and ate the liver, after which he participated in another challenge– to sit cross-eyed for five minutes while wearing a scroungy hat– and attempted to get in on several others following that.
“I quite enjoyed it,” he said after the event, “I am very comfortable doing uncomfortable things and I enjoy money, so this was an ideal event.” He noted his relief getting some early challenges out of the way, given that as the night progressed, the bids got even lower, some even going as far as free. Interestingly, the challenges only got sillier and arguably more difficult from there.
After Zach Bauman hummed the first minute of “All Star” while doing the floss dance, fourth-year Cameron Byer was wrapped to a chair with saran wrap and made to escape. During his attempt, he wisely suggested that falling wasn’t an option, opting instead to wiggle until his arms were free and he could tear the wrap apart. His eventual success earned him a vote from Dunmore for ODAC athlete of the month.
The next challenge saw juniors Kate Szambecki and Kate Stutzman share a green bagel. Only, in order to fulfill the challenge, they both had to have their mouths on either end of the bagel and eat it together. It was an intimate moment appropriately scored by French café music and backdropped by Zach Bauman deleting his entire Facebook profile. A pantsless Dunmore and Andreas enthused the chaos.
The auction culminated with a trio of students egging themselves and a final hoorah from the hosts. As they announced the end of the auction, bowed, and received whip cream pies to the face from fellow CAC coordinator, Jeremiah Yoder and assistant director of student programs, Tyler Goss, infectious energy permeated throughout the room, and several students left smiling. Even amid a year of worst-case-scenarios, we’re reminded to smile, slow down, enjoy the little moments, and enjoy even more the people that make those moments happen.
