The Great Salt Lick contest and auction is set for Saturday, Sept. 16, in Baker City.

BAKER CITY — The saltiest of fundraisers returns to Baker City for one final time on Saturday, Sept. 16.

The 15th Great Salt Lick contest and auction, devised by Whit Deschner, showcases a variety of submitted salt blocks sculpted into creative forms by livestock and wildlife.

Then, Mib Dailey auctions each block, and the proceeds will be donated to the Parkinson’s Center at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Up to now, the auction has raised just over $175,000.

Deschner was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2000.

The event

Viewing starts at 5:30 p.m., and the auction follows at 6:30 p.m. at Churchill School, 3451 Broadway St. Admission is free.

Deschner said this one will be the final event for the Great Salt Lick.

“I’m afraid 23 years of Parkinson’s has caught up with me and this will be my last year running the auction,” Deschner said. “I want to thank Mib Dailey for auctioneering all 15 of these auctions — I couldn’t have done it without him.”

He also gives credit to the community that has contributed to the success of his unique fundraiser.

“I could not have done it without support of the people of Baker,” he said.

This year’s show will be judged by children. There will be $1,225 awarded in cash prizes in several categories: forgeries, most artistically licked block, best poem with a block, best poem without a block, and People’s Choice.

A special addition to the auction is a framed photograph by the late Jerry Kencke. It was sold at the 2022 auction, and has been donated back to be sold again.

Kencke, who specialized in photographing the western lifestyle, died in 2019. A retrospective of his work was featured in June 2021 at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center. This framed piece measures 4 feet tall and 5½ feet wide. It is titled “Parting Ways,” and was shot with 35mm film.

Honors

The contest was named the best Philanthropic Event by the Oregon Festivals and Events Association in 2012, and has appeared on NPR’s “Weekend Edition” and Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Oregon Art Beat.” It was featured by Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Smithsonian’s website, and in art museums in Chicago, Vancouver, B.C., and the Guggenheim in Los Angeles.

In downtown Baker City, a larger-than-life bronze salt lick at Court Plaza honors the homegrown event. This piece was supported by the Ford Family Foundation.