Anybody coveting the playhouse now gracing the southeast corner of the courthouse square can still pick it up at auction, but will have to wait a bit to do so.

It was built by Ivy Tech's Construction Materials and Specifications class to raise money for Jill's House, the planned dwelling to provide a homelike residence for those receiving treatment at Indiana University's Proton Therapy facility.

Jill's House officials had planned to conduct an auction for the playhouse during "holiday walk" fundraising activities Tuesday night at the square, but found that impractical.

"Maybe a holiday walk isn't the wisest thing, with weather and parking potential issues, and people just so busy," Peg Howard of Jill's House said Thursday. "Live and learn."

Howard said the playhouse will probably be auctioned off this spring, or possibly at the Jill's House golf outing June 17 at the Bloomington County Club.

Whenever the auction happens, she said, whoever gets the playhouse is in for a real treat.

"The playhouse is so awesome," she said. "It is 8 feet high, 10 feet in length and 5 feet wide. It's carpeted. It has decking on the front. It's made with pressure-treated lumber. It's designed to be a miniature house by Kirk Barnes' class at Ivy Tech.

"It just blew me away the first time I saw it. We remain very excited about it, and the Ivy Tech people have been wonderful. They're going to pick the playhouse up for us Monday and store it for us until we're ready to auction it off."

Howard said that some other recent fundraising efforts are going well.

She credited the Bloomington Board of Realtors' holiday open house program for "raising $4,305, and making people think about what it's all about." She also noted Steak n' Shake will supply 50,000 vouchers after Jan. 1 for restaurants in Bloomington, Martinsville, Seymour and Columbus, with Jill's House receiving 20 percent of the proceeds.

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