Wrap-Up of the 2026 Mammoth Auction and Sale

The 33rd Mammoth Auction and Sale fundraiser for the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt wrapped up successfully on March 7 and 8, 2026. The annual fundraiser began as the “Mammoth Bazaar” in February 1992 to raise funds for building the bonsai garden. There were vendors, consignment sales, demonstrations, raffles, and food. The event continues to offer live auctions, quality vendors, consignment sales, and silent auctions. The annual fundraiser is well attended by bonsai enthusiasts and public. This year the fundraiser offered a total of 110 items in the live auction, of which 101 were quality trees, and silent auctions that included four trees donated to the bonsai garden’s collection.

Director Suzanne Muller, who chaired the event, said the Saturday auction exceeded all expectations. She added that sales on Sunday were equally successful. Sales were a record number of both donated and consignment items, such as trees, pots, stands, tools, and books, adding significantly to increase net revenue for the bonsai garden.

Gordon Deeg and Addison Galambos skillfully managed the live auction as auctioneers. The room was filled with enthusiastic bidders. Bidding was active across the printed catalog, with prices spanning a wide range. Item #29 – Tiger Bark Ficus opened the low end at $200, while item #1 – a show‑ready, collected Sierra juniper, commanded the highest price at $12,100. All cataloged items were listed by number, providing a clear picture for bidders throughout the event.

There were 17 bonsai vendors present on Sunday morning. Many of the vendors are regulars in supporting the annual fundraiser. They offered a variety of bonsai related merchandise, such as soil, tools, pots, trees, and handcrafted wooden bonsai stands. The vendors contribute to supporting the bonsai garden by making quality goods available to bonsai practitioners.

On Sunday, donated and consigned bonsai goods went on sale. This venue attracts crowds of folks seeking to buy at bargain prices. The line up started at 8:00 a.m., which the doors opened at 10:00 a.m. This year, a substantial collection of bonsai trees, pots, books, tools, and other related items were available. Goods were placed on tables with overflow of items placed underneath the tables. Individuals could purchase an unlimited number of items. Happy folks went away with their purchases.

Such events rely on a lot of bonsai garden volunteers. The bonsai garden deeply expresses its gratitude to all the volunteers for their invaluable contribution to the 2026 Mammoth Auction and Sale fundraiser. Like past years, the Sign-Up Genius online app was used to organize volunteers and assign their tasks—from early cleaning and photographing auction items, through managing the two-day event, to wrapping up the fundraiser.

Looking forward, the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt begin working on the next Mammoth fundraiser scheduled for January 23 and 24, 2027.

Ole Laustsen – Ole Laustsen Display Stands

The 26th Mammoth Auction & Sale 2026

The 26^th Mammoth Auction & Sale 2026
By George Haas

Director Suzanne Muller takes over from George Haas as the Mammoth Chairperson. If you have questions, Suzanne can be reached HERE or visit the website Join Us-As-A Volunteer and ask for a link to Sign Up Genius.

On March 7 and 8, 2026, the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt (BGLM) will hold its 26^th annual Mammoth Auction & Sale 2026. This is the primary fundraising event for the BGLM. The proceeds from the event go towards annual operating expenses.

Originally, the event was called the Mammoth Bazaar, which was conducted on March 29, 1992, at the Lakeside Park Garden Center, Oakland, California, to raise funds for the planned Bonsai Garden. Since then, the two-day event has been held every year with few exceptions like the Covid Pandemic in 2020.

The Mammoth Auction features live bidding on approximately 100 quality bonsai trees, pots, stands, and related bonsai materials on Saturday. On Sunday, the fundraiser opens with a dozen or so bonsai vendors who offer bonsai supplies such as bonsai trees, tools, soil, pots, stands, and the like. Subsequently, a large variety of bonsai trees, pots galore, books, suiseki viewing stones, stands, and art objects, are offered for sale at bargain pricing from either donations or consignments. Crowds of excited shoppers show up hours early, lining the entrance of the garden center in hopes of snagging the best deals.

To have a successful fundraiser, there is the requirement for many volunteers to fill the varied roles in conducting the event. It may take 50 or so volunteers to conduct the auction, whereas a similar number of volunteers participate in the second day of sale activities. About a month and a half prior to the event, volunteers take part in cleaning and prepping the bonsai trees and pots, followed by a morning to photograph the sequential order of auction items. A catalog is published for the bidders because of their efforts.

All proceeds from the fundraiser support our annual operating expenses, including the care, maintenance, and essential supplies needed to ensure the bonsai collection continues to thrive.

In 2026, the two‑day event will feature 110 high‑quality auction items, including exceptional bonsai trees and handcrafted stands. There are 17 notable bonsai vendors participating in the second day. The sale on Sunday promises to be exceptionally good for bargain hungry shoppers.

The following images depict the Mammoth Auction and Sale for 2025. Photos by George Haas.

Live auction with Gordon Deeg and Addison Galambos as auctioneers.

Auction well attended by bidders and observers.

Silent auctions were offered for the first time.

Sale items were donated or on consignment.

Vendors offered bonsai trees and variety of goods.

Quality bonsai vendors participate every year.

2026 Mammoth Online Catalog

Today, you can review the entire 110 auction items for the 2026 Mammoth Auction & Sale Fundraiser. Visit Mammoth Auction & Sale Fundraiser – GSBF Bonsai Garden at lake Merritt and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on button for Mammoth Online Catalog PDF.

Bonsai Holiday Gift Ideas

Narrow your search for holiday gift ideas by shopping at the Gift Shop for the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt [https://bonsailakemerritt.com/gift-shop/].

25th Anniversary Book covering more than 25 years of history, bonsai tree and suiseki collections, and the volunteer force caring for the bonsai garden.

Books are discounted until December 31.

Wine and Bonsai – Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt

Wine and Bonsai –
Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt

By Suzanne Muller and George Haas

On November 23, 2025, at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt (BGLM), a special project was undertaken by Kyle Jeffrey and JJ Ignotz. Kyle Jeffrey works for the Woods Beer and Wine Company, Treasure Island, California, as winemaker. He hired JJ Ignotz, a Professional Photographer, to photograph the bonsai trees.

The company is operated by the following:

Jim Woods, Founder & CEO
Matt Coelho, Founder

The photo shoot was accomplished with the help from BGLM volunteers – Gordon Deeg, Yuri Aono, Michal Tiede, Mike Roberto, Ashley Pouliot, Nicole Yabut, and Suzanne Muller.

This was no ordinary project! A total of 19 bonsai trees were selected from among the 160 bonsai trees that make up the collection at BGLM. Weeks before, BGLM volunteers tended to the bonsai trees in anticipation of them being photographed by JJ Ignotz. In taking on the project, a temporary photo studio was set-up within the BGLM workshop. It took most of the day to completely photograph all 19 bonsai trees.

The bonsai tree photographs will be transformed into artistic wine labels designed by JJ Ignotz for the Woods Beer and Wine Company (Woods Beer and Wine Company). The wine is featured at six local bars, brewpubs and wineries in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Woods Cervecería – Mission, San Francisco
Woods Outbound – Outer Sunset, San Francisco
Woods Polk Station – Russian Hill, San Francisco
Woods Lowside – Lower Haight, San Francisco
Woods Cole Valley – Cole Valley, San Francisco
Woods San Anselmo – Downtown, San Anselmo (Opening Soon)

Woods Beer and Wine Company plan to debut their new line of wine labels featuring BGLM bonsai tree photographs and artistic designs by JJ Ignotz from April 2026 through February 2027.

Their wine is sold by the brand name Woods Beer and Wine Company. The bonsai trees will be on the 2025 vintage of wine. They will have seven varieties of wines each with a bonsai tree for its label. They produce various wine types, some of which can be found on their website (Previous Community Club Releases). The company is a very atypical winery with a number of options.

The wine can be purchased at any of their six bars or brew pubs in San Francisco and soon in San Anselmo. There is also an option to become part of their Community Club.

Every new vintage label for the wines will have an image from a variety of sources. In 2024, the labels included art from local San Francisco artist. One year the labels included images around Treasure Island, and another year, images from the Hubble space telescope.

In 2019, Kyle Jeffrey’s vision for a wine label was to takeoff from the name “Woods”. The ideas began to form. What was the best way to incorporate an image of a tree or artist who drew trees or design the image of the texture of trees? All these ideas brought them to start doing research on small trees, and Googling “Museum for Bonsai Trees” only to discover there is a bonsai garden across the Bay! He and JJ Ignotz scheduled a tour of the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt and found their next vintage label images.

Their beer wine hybrid “Divine Origin Series” won the World Beer Cup’s Gold Medal in 2025. The prestigious award recognized excellence in craft brewing and cider production, and the series has been celebrated for its quality and innovation. The World Beer Cup is referred to as the “Olympics of Beer,” and the Gold Medal is a symbol of the highest level of achievement in the craft beverage industry.

Category 18: Experimental Beer – 129 Entries

Gold: Divine Origins Carignan

Surely, the artistry of wine labels merits its own competition format, honoring them as an art form.

Last Call Mammoth Auction & Sale

BGLM Mammoth Auction and Sale 2026

By Suzanne Muller

BGLM Mammoth fundraiser is schedule for March 7 and 8, 2026. The two-day event is roughly three months away!

This month ends the call for auction and sale consignments and donations. Quality bonsai trees, pots, stands, and related bonsai items are needed for the auction. Sale items can be suitable pre-bonsai trees, bonsai trees, pots, stands, tools, and bonsai art.

All auction items must be delivered to BGLM now or by Saturday, January 10, 2026, 9:00 a.m., so that the items are photographed for the auction catalog. Prepare your items as if show ready!

Please contact Director Suzanne Muller at queueinteriors@comcast.net for delivery instructions and additional information.

For auction and sale forms, visit the BGLM website at https://bonsailakemerritt.com/mammoth-auction-sale-fundraiser/.

BGLM Mammoth Auction & Sale

BGLM Mammoth Auction & Sale Call for Consignments and Donations

By Suzanne Muller

BGLM Mammoth fundraiser is schedule for March 7 and 8, 2026. The two-day event is roughly four months away!

This November starts the call for auction and sale consignments and donations. Quality bonsai trees, pots, stands, and related bonsai items are needed for the auction. Sale items can be suitable pre-bonsai trees, bonsai trees, pots, stands, tools, and bonsai art.

All auction items must be delivered to BGLM by Saturday, January 10, 2026, 9:00 a.m., so that the items are photographed for the auction catalog. Prepare your items as if show ready!

Please contact Director Suzanne Muller at queueinteriors@comcast.net for delivery instructions and additional information.

For auction and sale forms, visit the BGLM website at https://bonsailakemerritt.com/mammoth-auction-sale-fundraiser/.

Autunm Lights Festival 2025

Autunm Lights Festival 2025

By George Haas and Randi Keppeler

The Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt (BGLM) proudly participates each year in Oakland’s Gardens at Lake Merritt Autunm Lights Festival.

The Autumn Lights Festival is the annual fundraiser held each year for the Gardens at Lake Merritt. The Gardens at Lake Merritt were established more than a half century ago. They are a number of themed gardens with varying levels of upkeep. Volunteers provide much needed maintenance assistance to the City of Oakland’s gardening staff. The Gardens at Lake Merritt are a “tranquil oasis in the heart of Oakland and provide enriching public programs.”

Autumn Lights Festival occurred over three magical nights: October 16, 17, and 18, 2025! This year was the 14^th year of the annual event.

The Autumn Lights Festival is hosted by the Friends of the Gardens at Lake Merritt. Friends of the Gardens at Lake Merritt organization comprised of all volunteers, formed in 2004. It serves to partner with the City of Oakland to enhance the seven-acre collection of themed gardens in the very heart of Oakland.

By supporting the diverse plant collection, habitats, demonstration gardens and landscapes of the gardens, Friends of the Gardens at Lake Merritt work as a learning resource and a serene location for the public to connect with and enjoy the beauties of nature.

A lot of credit belongs to BGLM volunteers Randi Keppeler and Rick Medress for planning and creating BGLM’s role in Autunm Lights Festival. Randi is the creator and artist for the yearly event. Rick is in charge of the low voltage lighting. Preparations for the event have increased exponentially over the last 14 years. Randi’s contributions to design and works of art never seems to end, and Rick constantly comes up with ways to place low voltage lighting so that every bonsai and garden feature receives the visitors’ attention.

BGLM closed down six days before the event in order to set-up the garden’s array of art forms and lighting. Volunteers worked during those set-up days in staging the bonsai trees and many garden features. Volunteers are also active as docents for the three nights of Autunm Lights Festival.

Each night of the event, four to six docents provide information about bonsai and suiseki viewing stones and ensure the physical security of the garden. The hours of operation are 6:00 to 11:00 PM. The event goes on rain or shine. Luckily, this year’s weather was dry and clear with the sense of autumn in the air.

BGLM volunteers register to work various shifts involving set-up, docents and cleaning up upon closure. Sign-Up Genius online app is used weeks prior to the event. Announcements for signing up encourage individuals to volunteer for the event.

Randi Keppeler is deeply grateful to everyone who volunteered their time to help with docent duties, setup and takedown. Your dedication and generosity made this event possible — we truly couldn’t have done it without them. Every single person came through, and together, we made it happen.

Docents count the number of guests entering the bonsai garden. The number of individuals entering the gate is incredible, numbering 1,800 to more than 2,800. If you missed out of the fun, there is always next year!

Visitors purchase tickets in advance of the event which are limited to 3,500 per night. Funds raised by Autunm Lights Festival are distributed in the form of grants to the themed gardens which includes BGLM.

Afterwards, volunteers spend one day packing up everything and storing the numerous art forms and lights for next year.

For information about Autunm Lights Festival 2026, you can contact Randi Keppeler at calshohin@yahoo.com.

Autumn Lights Festival at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt – Volunteers URGENLY Needed!

By Randi Keppeler

We especially need volunteers for security of the bonsai garden from 6:00 pm to 11 pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Just as continuous care for each bonsai tree is critical, so too is caring for the ecosystem that surrounds the tree. This includes not only the soil, water, and nutrients but also the surrounding physical and social infrastructure and the communication of the art of bonsai to new minds. The City of Oakland has wholeheartedly embraced our bonsai clubs and has worked to keep the Bonsai Garden as well as the other Gardens of Lake Merritt thriving. The Autumn Lights Festival, held annually in October, is a fundraiser to help the City with the cost of maintaining the Gardens. The BGLM opens our doors during the Autumn Lights Festival as a way to say Thank You and to give back to the citizens of Oakland. This cycle of receive and give back is part of the greater bonsai ecosystem.

Please join us in this effort. If you have ideas for a lighting display, we would like to work with you to make it happen. If you can spare us some time with preparation, setup, being a docent during the festival, or helping with cleanup on the final day, any and all help is greatly needed and much appreciated. This year the Autumn Lights Festival will be from Thursday October 16th through Saturday October 18th with cleanup on Sunday October 19th.

Landscape lighting that highlights each and every bonsai tree in the garden is installed in the weeks leading up to October’s event. If you have time during the week and some experience with landscape lighting, please let us know. Saturday October 11th and Sunday the 12th we can use help installing rope lights along the walkways. This will keep kids (and parents) on the pathways. Some of the more weather resistant accent lighting displays are set up at this time as well. On Wednesday October 15th and Thursday October 16th during the daytime, the less weather resistant accent lighting is installed. During the Festival itself, we need volunteers to be docents and samurai guards. With over 2000+ visitors each night we need people to keep the bonsai trees safe and to answer visitors’ questions. And finally on Sunday October 19th from 9am to roughly 2pm we take everything down and box it up in preparation for next year.

While we cannot gift families with admission tickets, we can get the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night docents’ free admission as volunteers. With enough docents, we rotate guard duties so that each person can spend time exploring the rest of the Autumn Lights Festival. We hope that you will join us in having fun and giving back to the community around us.

We greatly appreciate it if you can help us out during any of the following periods:

SETUP:

Saturday October 11th, 9 am to 3 pm

Saturday October 12th, Noon to 3 pm

Wednesday October 15th, 9 am to 3 pm

Thursday October 16th, Noon to 4 pm

FESTIVAL GUARD/DOCENT

Thursday October 16th, 6 pm to 11 pm

Friday October 17th, 6 pm to 11 pm

Saturday October 18th, 6 pm to 11 pm

TAKE DOWN/CLEAN UP:

Sunday October 19th, 9 am until we are done (usually by 1:30 or 2 pm)

There is a sign-up page at SIGN UP GENIUS:

Please contact Randi Keppeler (calshohin@yahoo.com or 650-773-5119) if you can help or if you have any questions.

Autumn Lights Festival

Autumn Lights Festival at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt – Volunteers Needed!

Landscape lighting that highlights each and every bonsai tree in the garden is installed in the weeks leading up to October’s event. If you have time during the week and some experience with landscape lighting, please let us know. Saturday October 11th and Sunday the 12th we can use help installing rope lights along the walkways. This will keep kids (and parents) on the pathways. Some of the more weather resistant accent lighting displays are set up at this time as well. On Wednesday October 15th and Thursday October 16th during the daytime, the less weather resistant accent lighting is installed. During the Festival itself, we need volunteers to be docents and samurai guards. With over 1000 visitors each night we need people to keep the bonsai trees safe and to answer visitors’ questions. And finally on Sunday October 19th from 9am to roughly 2pm we take everything down and box it up in preparation for next year.

We greatly appreciate it if you can help us out during any of the following periods:

SETUP:

Saturday October 11th, 9am to 3pm

Saturday October 12th, noon to 3pm

Wednesday October 15th, 9am to 3pm

Thursday October 16th, noon to 4pm

FESTIVAL GUARD/DOCENT

Thursday October 16th, 6pm to 11pm

Friday October 17th, 6pm to 11pm

Saturday October 18th, 6pm to 11pm

TAKE DOWN/CLEAN UP:

Sunday October 19th, 9am until we are done (usually by 1:30 or 2pm)

There is a sign-up page at Sign-Up Genius: SIGN-UP GENIUS

Please contact Randi Keppeler (calshohin@yahoo.com or 650-773-5119) if you can help or if you have any questions.