LCAC plans annual art auction

(3/20) On Sunday, April 23, The Parrot in Gettysburg will host the Land Conservancy of Adams County’s 20th annual Art Auction, featuring a wide variety of original artwork created by local and regional artists—everything from painting and drawing to ceramics and other three-dimensional work.

Over the years the Art Auction has become one of the most popular fundraisers for the Land Conservancy, which works to preserve the rural character of Adams County. Since its founding in 1995, the Land Conservancy has worked with local landowners to preserve more than 10,000 acres of rural Adams County land.

The Parrot, located at 35 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, has long been the site of the Land Conservancy’s auction event. The restaurant’s new owners, Gus Zucco and Hillary Styer, will continue the tradition this year, and auctioneer Randy Hilker will again present the artwork for auction. There will also be door prizes, raffles, and more.

Doors for the auction will open at noon, with bidding beginning at 1 p.m. Admission to the event is $15—though artists donating art for auction are invited to attend free of charge—and all proceeds will support the Land Conservancy’s work.

Donated art will be on display at The Parrot throughout the month of April. The Parrot will also host a First Friday Artists’ Reception from 4-6 p.m., Friday, April 7, to showcase the work donated to the auction. Many of the local and regional artists who donated work to the auction will be on hand to meet attendees.

The art auction also closes Land Conservancy Month, as proclaimed annually by the Adams County Commissioners. The month began with the Land Conservancy’s annual dinner on March 9, where the organization welcomed York Springs resident Adam Boyer to its board of directors.

Boyer is an associate in the Gettysburg law firm of Puhl, Eastman & Thrasher and served last year as the Land Conservancy’s Land Conservation Coordinator during the one-year leave of absence of the organization’s current coordinator, Sarah Kipp.

At the dinner, the Land Conservancy honored the landowners who preserved a total of 336 acres of Adams County farmland, woodland, open spaces, and freshwater streams in 2016. These landowners included Tom and Jackie Colgan, who preserved their 19.5-acre Oxford Township property; Kenneth and Mildred Hankey, who preserved 157 acres of their farmland in Latimore Township; and Allen Knouse, who preserved 77 wooded acres in Highland Township. The Land Conservancy also honored the Hauser family, who earlier in March completed a conservation easement preserving 170 acres of their Franklin Township vineyard. Including the Hauser preservation project, the Land Conservancy of Adams County has now preserved 10,150 acres in the county since its founding in 1995.

The Land Conservancy of Adams County is a fully accredited, member-supported nonprofit land trust that works to preserve the rural lands and character of Adams County. For more information about the Land Conservancy and the events surrounding Land Conservancy Month, visit LCACnet.org.