Bachelor auction new to St. Charles festival
Hey ladies, Mike Frasier and a bottle of champagne can be yours this weekend -- for a price.
Don't worry, Frasier will give the money to charity. He just hopes when it comes time for him to strut his stuff at this weekend's bachelor auction at least one minimum bid of $25 is made.
"I'm not a criminal, at least," Frasier said. "So I'm hoping somebody sees the fun in it."
The first bachelor auction at the Pride of the Fox RiverFest in St. Charles will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday on the Harris Riverside Stage, across from city hall. Eight bachelors will strut their stuff and raise money for charities, including the Lazarus House in St. Charles and the American Heart and American Lung associations. The festival itself gets rolling Friday.
Frasier, who owns The Wine Exchange in St. Charles and is part owner of Sage Bistro, will donate his money to the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. CASA helps abused and neglected children go through court cases involving their families.
"I think it has a lot of impact for kids," Frasier said, "ultimately helping them through troubled situations."
The auction's organizer, Marie Heitzman, had the idea to fill an empty hourlong time slot on the festival's final day. She offered her idea to the festival's director, Joy Meierhans.
"We definitely wanted to edge toward women," Heitzman said, saying the band that followed the auction, High Infidelity, had a strong female following.
Some men have called wanting to be a part of the auction. But they have had to turn them away. "We have local celebrities," Heitzman said. "The response has been great because it's going to local charities."
Among the bachelors is a set of twins who own a bar in West Chicago, a St. Charles firefighter -- who Heitzman said will "put the fire out in women's hearts" -- and the owner of the Wine Exchange in St. Charles.
Meierhans, who has worked with the festival for 19 years and has been an event planner for 35 years, said it's always a challenge to bring in new attractions to make sure the crowd doesn't get tired of the routine.
Heitzman said she has instructed the bachelors to dress the part. That gave Frasier an idea.
He'll probably strut around with a bottle of champagne and let the women know they are not just bidding on him but also the bottle. He said that might keep him from experiencing his ultimate fear: No bids.
"I expect to be thoroughly embarrassed, humiliated and diminished, if not eliminated, self-esteem," he said. "But if it's for a good charity, I'll do it."