BRICK AUCTION
tuesday march 5th...at roughly 8:45 am we stood looking thru a hole in the front window of our store on carson street. there was glass everywhere and a brick laying on the floor. apparently some dick thought itd be a great idea to smash out one of our 7 foot plate glass windows. unfortunately, its not a rare occasion to see something like that here in the south side. its happened to us and our neighbors before. its one of those costs that just kick you right in the gut. you know its $500 right off the bat, plus the time to clean up, and just the all around hassle of wondering why and who and why and what the hell.
so me and dan rock start picking up glass, sweeping...and both take turns cursing the whole situation. i jokingly said that im going to auction off this brick. kept sweeping and thinking about it, then figured - yep, im going to auction off this brick. nothing formal, nothing fancy just post it on facebook and see what happens. we have the commonwealth press beer barge coming up (as part of pgh craft beer week) and tickets havent gone on sale yet. so to spice up the deal we thought we could wrap one of those tickets around it - toss in a bunch of our cwp shirts and whatnot - and see if someone gives a crap.
within an hour we had bids. awesome bids...cookies, beer, legos, money. it was awesome to see people start to take part, share the status etc. our friends were sharing, new people were liking our page, bids grew and things really started to catch fire.
then one of our friends/customers Eljays Used books contacted us and offered to add a $20 gift certificate to our initial rewards. thats one of those quick moments where a flash goes off and you realize people are actually seeing this.
from that point it really grew and started to take off. Shortly after that Rock Bottom added a free sixth-barrel keg, Steel City Roller Derby offered a pair of passes to an upcoming bout, and Yinzburg BBQ added a $25 gift card. things kinda went nuts from there with donations coming in from other local businesses and bids coming in from friends - all looking to help.
then the news came. SERIOUSLY - word had spread and 2 different news crews showed up.
im aware that i am, for the most part, socially inept - so take that and add a camera...and well you get these (click to watch news videos from each):
then the news paper....
then it got picked up by the associated press and has spread nation wide. a friend of mine down in VA said he heard it mentioned on NPR "morning edition". want proof? here it is on NPR.
it was totally overwhelming to see this all build over something that in the larger scheme is rather trivial. we honestly started out thinking this was a joke of sorts (dan rock even said to make sure we said "seriously" on the facebook post). we started out hoping that we could cover the cost of the ticket, then the window, then this surpassed what the window would even cost.
so we announced anything past that would go to local charity. i think thats the thing that that really got me. it just kept coming. more from businesses, more bids.
so at the end of the day - LITERALLY the end of the day - Derrick Brashear came thru with a bid of $1150
AND THEN he shows up to pay...and BRINGS US HOMEBREW. what kind of world is this?!?!
the final list of people and businesses that have contributed to this auction (with well over $2100 value) are as follows:
links are included - if you visit them, please let them know how you heard about them and how appreciated they are.
-$20 used book credit from Eljays Used Books
-Rock Bottom just added a free sixth-barrel keg
-a pair of passes to an upcoming Steel City Roller Derby
-yinzburgh bbq added a $25 giftcard
-1 mens or womans haircut gift certificate by me (Lee) at Nadia Salon, Inc
-Brewery Tour, Tasting, and Growler for two at east end brewing
-a Monster Haiku book from Josh
-a laser cut birch plywood lamp from Laser Lab studio
-a free pair of plugs from jess at PA Plugs
-4 DOZ pierogies from WALDOS Pierogies.
-$50 garbella gift certificate!
-2 lbs of whole bean coffee from delanies coffee
-10 items from The Travelling Pittsburgh Craft-O-Tron Machine
-2 tickets to Step Trek from The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association
-FREE CLASS card for BLACK YOGA
-$25 gift certificate from URBAN OUTFITTERS
-2 lbs of coffee from Zeke's Coffee
-$20 gift card from the 17th Street Cafe
-a prize package from Pittsburgh Opera
-$10 pizza hut gift card and a custom acrylic painting by jay griffin
-a pair of lower bowl Pens tickets to the game on 3/26 vs. Montreal.
-a free case of Turners Tea
-a shirt from neighbor teaze
-$50 gift certificate to Piper's Pub
-12 pies from the pub chip shop
-$25 sapling press etsy gift card
-2 VIP passes from hundred acres manor
-a key to the South Side from the South Side Chamber of Commerce and one year membership to our organization
-4 tickets from stage AE to the SOLD OUT "A Day to Remember" show
-a Yinztagram add on for a week
-$20 gift cert to fukuda @FukudaPgh
-Static Nightclub 1ViP bottle service table including bottle of house champagne
-$50 in smokin joes bucks
-1 picnic chair from YaJagoff
-1 batman, a high five, and a 22oz PBR at Ruggers Pub from @minjock
- the "European Bundle" of translators from Jibbigo Translator
-1 hour free photography session from Katelyn Rose Photography
-1 piece of original pottery from Emily Goston Orsovay
-a pair of tickets to Comedy for a Cause show on Saturday at Cefalo's AND a pair of weekend passes to next week's Horror Realm convention from sandy stuhfire
-a free season which also includes a raffle entry to win a Flash pinball machine from Pittsburgh Pinball League will donate
-$250 gift certificate from BookSmarts Tax & Accounting
-a free car wash from Audio 1 . (412)931 1700
- a pair of ticket vouchers, good for any main season performance from City Theatre
-$50 gift certificate from OTB
- gift certificate from Krazy Dogz
- free shirt from Neighbor Teaze
- complimentary bottle service for up to 6 people at Diesel from Ampd
plus
commonwealth press beer barge ticket
commonwealth press all our koozies
commonwealth press all our stickers
commonwealth press a bunch of shirts
commonwealth press hugs from cwp
commonwealth press A DAMN BRICK!
so after the window costs we decided to split the proceeds as donations between 2 local charities here in the south side. part will go to the brashear association and the other part to paar. both places are right here in the neighborhood, are forces for good, and deserve every penny and more.
we also decided to thank ALL OF YOU with a BRICK AUCTION HAPPY HOUR, hosted by us at our warehouse on MARCH 22nd from 5-7. you are all invited. come hang out, we will get some beer and food...maybe do some print demos so you can see what we do it. if you want to bring any canned goods, we can futher the good vibes and give some to the local food bank. all free. come hang for no reason except we all deserve it.
im overwhelmed. totally. think about it - if this is the kind of support pittsburgh offers to such a small ordeal, i cant imagine the force this city could muster under larger circumstances.
i love you pittsburgh, all inclusively.