Organizers say this year’s event – replete with unique auction items – will top all.

Auction for the Arts is planning “the best party Bainbridge has ever seen.”

The organization is pulling out all the stops for its annual fund-raiser, which will be held on the island for the first time Sept. 30. The two-tier affair is hosted by and raises money for Bainbridge Arts & Crafts, Bainbridge Chorale, Bainbridge Performing Arts and Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council.

“The Auction for the Arts this year is expanding,” said event coordinator Mary Clare Kersten. “It used to be at Kiana Lodge…for eight years. We’re going to hold it in a big way this year on Bainbridge and everybody is invited.”

Islander Joanne Ellis started the auction nine years ago because the arts organizations competed with their fund-raisers, Kersten said.

“This is a unified arts funding project,” she said. “The money goes to education for young and for old alike.”

The Moveable Feast and Silent Auction begins at 5 p.m. at Town Square outside BPA. Two tents will house fare from San Carlos Restaurant, Gandi, Mon Elisa’s, Madoka, The Four Swallows, Bainbridge Thai, Culinary Capers Catering, the Harbour Public House, The Winslow Way, Bainbridge Bakers and Blackbird Bakery, as well as more than 200 silent auction items from generous benefactors. Tickets for this portion of the event are $50 each.

“There’s a lot of wonderful art from local artists, both old and new, coming in,” Kersten said. “This will be fun for people who want to ‘discover’ a new artist.”

Tickets at the $100 level provide all this, plus a live auction at 7:30 p.m. led by auctioneer David Silverman, with the support of his fellow Edge improv troupe members, musical entertainment and dancing.

Among the live auction items are:

• Three walk-on roles in the upcoming BPA production of “Wizard of Oz.” Each one-time actor will keep the costume and receive a professional photograph and four tickets to the show.

• A brainstorming session with artist Max Grover in his Port Townsend studio and dinner with him and his wife, Sherry. He will turn the concept created in the meeting into a painting and deliver it, framed, to the recipient.

• A private performance by The Edge improv troupe.

• A week in a private home in San Miguel d’Allende, Mexico.

• An evening of musical entertainment with Bluefish Tango.

• A sheep-shearing party and wool blanket made from the sheared wool.

The auction has received enthusiastic support from local artists who have generously donated their work, Kersten said. Honorary auction chair Michele Van Slyke, whose work is ubiquitous to Winslow, sent three pieces for the auctions.

Only 500 tickets are available for the Moveable Feast: 230 at the $100 level and 270 at the $50 level.

The fund-raiser kicks off a two-week Community Auction, which can make all islanders patrons of the arts. More than 30 island stores will display a donated item for auction.

“Anyone on Bainbridge who feels they’re fortunate to live in this caring community can walk into one of the stores (and) place a bid between Oct. 1 and 15,” Kersten said. “If you can’t come to our party, you can still participate in the auction.”

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Arts party

“Auction for the Arts 2006 – Featuring A Moveable Feast” begins at 5 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Town Square next to City Hall. Tickets for the annual fund-raiser are $50 for the outdoor feast and silent auction at Town Square; and $100 for the feast, silent auction and live auction and dancing at the BPA Playhouse, which starts at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit Bainbridge Arts & Crafts, Bainbridge Chorale, Bainbridge Performing Arts and Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council. See www.artsauction.org to buy tickets and to view the live auction catalog. Sponsors include Rainier Investment Management, Deschamps Realty, Wiggs & Masters, Fairbank Construction CO., D.H. Briant & Associates, Viking Bank, Town & Country Market, Cruise West, Fredericks Fine Homes and the Bainbridge Island Review.