The Williamsburg Ladies Club held its annual luncheon and auction Wednesday at the Williamsburg Community Center.
Club President Linda Schotte said this is the largest event the club puts on each year. The group consists of approximately 20 women from the Williamsburg community, Schotte said.
"It's more of a social eating club more than anything," Schotte said jokingly.
At the event there was a potluck, a raffle for a handmade quilt, and a silent and a live auction hosted by Suzanna Wolfe. The money raised in the raffle goes towards a scholarship fund the club provides North Callaway High School.
"A lot of our members went to North Callaway, and we have children who went there and might currently have grandchildren there, so we just like to support their education," Schotte said.
The club's history spans an unknown number of years, but one current member said she began participating in 1966. They originally started out as the Williamsburg Extension Club but changed names as extension clubs became less popular, Schotte said.
Schotte said the requirements of joining the club are paying $5 worth of annual dues and showing up. The club has three executive board position that consists of a president, vice president and secretary/treasurer.
"We meet monthly, but we have a quilting group as well that meets each week to give our members more to do," Schotte said.
Eunice Niemeyer has been a member of the club for 40 years and said people who do not live in the Williamsburg community are welcome to join as well. She cited their lack of marketing as why many people, including people in their own community, don't know about them.
Schotte joined the club 18 years ago after retiring, and she has been president for the past eight years. She said it is difficult to pass positions on because a lot of the members have already served in them.
"Our club used to be bigger but, unfortunately, (our members) are dying or are just older and can't come on their own anymore," Schotte said.
Schotte said the club used to have many younger women who were primarily "stay-at-home" mothers or wives, but those numbers have essentially disappeared as more women joined the workforce. She pointed to a similar club to theirs in Mokane that has also experienced a significant drop in numbers.
"Every once in a while, we'll have a program set up, but the club is mostly about socializing with each other, if you can't tell from all the yapping going on," Schotte said.