Allison Mace of Eastham (L) with Sandwich Town Collector Bill Jennings (R) After Purchasing The Old Sandwich Wooden Water Bubbler Box At Auction
SANDWICH – A piece of Sandwich history has a new home.
The old wooden water fountain box, a staple at town hall for decades, was replaced during renovations last year. The item was kept and set aside by town employees.
Multiple residents expressed interest in the artifact, leading to the auction. “Rather than give any appearance at all of any sort of favoritism of anybody we decided to have a public process to auction off the box,” Assistant Town Manager Doug Lapp.
Four people bid on the item, and more Sandwich residents attended the event to see where the artifact would end up.
The bidding started at $10, with two residents bringing the bidding up to around $200 before Allison Mace of Eastham arrived. She won the bubbler for $500.
“I’m so excited because we had to have it. We had to get it,” Mace said. “I had more in my bag hoping that it wasn’t going to go for more than what I have in here. I was thinking it was going to go for more actually, so I’m happy.”
Mace and her fiance plan to give the wooden box to Mace’s future mother-in-law, a long-time Forestdale resident.
“She just loves Sandwich,” Mace said of her mother-in-law-to-be. “She’s been here forever, and to have a piece of Sandwich is awesome.”
Mace’s future husband, Truro police officer Craig Bayer, called the bubbler “the best gift imaginable” for his mom. “My mother is a lover of all things antique and an even bigger lover of the Town of Sandwich. This is going to be the most amazing gift that we could possibly get her. It will surely bring her a lifetime of enjoyment.”
The couple is giving the gift in memory of Bayer’s father, Jack Morgan, who passed away last year after a two-year battle with cancer, just days before Bayer’s mother’s birthday. “Allison and I have spent must of this year trying to come up with the perfect present for my mother, after skipping her birthday last year under such heartbreaking circumstances. When I saw the Town of Sandwich was auctioning off the old town water bubbler, I immediately knew that it would be the best gift imaginable.”
Mace and Bayer will be married at the Daniel Webster Inn in two weeks, which is when the couple plans to give the gift. “I’m hoping she doesn’t see this!” Mace said.
By Matt McCarthy, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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