It was one of many dramatic moments at Saturday's Cranes On Parade Art Auction, when 34 fiberglass cranes that have been displayed in Kearney since March went to the highest bidders. The public art project was organized by the Kearney Dawn Rotary Club, with the 6-foot statues decorated by area artists.

Dave Keiter, president of the club's nonprofit PRISM group, said the auction raised $75,285. He estimated that the project could raise over $100,000 total, with sales of crane-related merchandise. More than 300 people attended the auction. Along with the cranes, auctioneer Robin Marshall sold a bronze study of the statue, crane books signed by the artists and fiberglass "crane eggs" decorated by the artists.

Keiter said the average sale price for the cranes was about $2,000. Most will stay in Kearney, but others are going out of town and out of state. Keiter said a former Kearney man bought two to display where he now lives in Wisconsin, one was sold to a Denver buyer and four birds were bought by a private bidder for display at Crane Meadows Nature Center near Alda.

Like many of the businesses and schools that housed cranes this year, Kingsley said, the people at Park Elementary School had become attached to their bird.

"We just really wanted to make sure it went back to the school," said Kingsley, adding that she had heard there might be others interested in "Craning To See" by Deborah Sinclair. So Kingsley came to the auction with sons John, 9, and Jacob, 7, toting signs and banners with the Park School logo to make sure everyone knew they were with the school.

Kingsley, who sponsored the school's crane with husband David, said students raised $1,500 of the $2,500 purchase price.

Kearney's Horizon Middle School and Kenwood Elementary School also bought their cranes for $2,500 each. They were helped by Marshall, who encouraged anyone who might bid against the school to consider donating the crane back to the students.

Molly Anderson's "Klimt on Crane" brought the highest price at $4,000. Shelley Ness of Lincoln, who bought the crane covered in small fabric swatches, said it will be displayed in the summer home she and her husband are building on the Calamus River near Burwell.

"I saw it (the crane) this summer at the park," Ness said, explaining that her husband found an advertisement for the Cranes on Parade project and brought her to Kearney's Art in the Park for the crane display. They came to the auction specifically for Anderson's crane.

Proceeds will benefit a number of organizations and charities supported by the Kearney Dawn Rotary Club. Keiter said the club was very pleased with the project's results, but won't do a similar project until at least 2005.

"I think there will probably be at least a year we sit back from it," he said, "for the simple fact it becomes unique again."

e-mail to:
jan.thompson@kearneyhub.com