The Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale set what is believed to be a record for the highest price paid for a single item during the April 8-9 fundraiser for Mennonite Central Committee at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson.
A tractor donated by the family of Elmer and Eunice Friesen of Meade received a bid of $76,000 at the general auction.
Elmer Friesen farmed with the 7220 Case IH Magnum tractor until his death a year and a half ago. The couple met while serving with MCC in the early 1950s, and their children and grandchildren decided to donate the tractor and other machinery, which collected raised $98,100.
MCC relief sale coordinator Les Gustafson-Zook does not track the items receiving the highest bids at auctions across the United States and Canada. To his knowledge, the previous record-setting item was a quilt at the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale in Ontario that brought $44,000 in 2003.
Preliminary figures estimate the Kansas sale raised at least $600,000.
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