Orange County Bonsai Society plans public auction for May meeting

If you wanted a starter tree, a better pot, or a useful tool without paying retail, the Orange County Bonsai Society’s public auction was the place to look. The club put quality donated items on the block, including trees, stones, pots, tools, and stands, giving visitors a real shot at material that could move straight from the ballroom to the bench.

The auction and May club meeting were held Sunday, May 24, 2026, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim Downtown Community Center, Ballroom, 250 East Center Street, Anaheim, CA 92805. The society said non-members were welcome and encouraged, and it accepted cash, credit, and Venmo, a small but important detail that made the room accessible to anyone who came ready to bid rather than just club regulars. Proceeds from the auction benefited club programming.

That funding piece matters because OCBS has long presented itself as more than a social club. Formed in 1964, the Orange County Bonsai Society says it exists to foster the art and craft of bonsai through skillful training and culture. It describes itself as non-commercial, non-profit, and non-competitive, and says it is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) organization. In practice, that means meetings, auctions, workshops, demonstrations, exhibits, lectures, conventions, and field trips all feed the same engine: keeping the local bonsai scene active and educational.

OCBS also makes its public-facing structure easy to read. Its membership page says the first meeting is always free for non-members as guests, and that the club is supported by paid memberships and fundraisers. The society has used the same Downtown Anaheim Community Center venue before, including a winter auction on December 7, 2024, and its events page has also listed a 2025 club show with silent auction sales of donated pots and trees. That is not an accident. The club has built auctions into its operating rhythm, not as a novelty, but as one of the main ways it funds the next round of tree work and instruction.

For anyone trying to buy into the local scene, the May auction offered the most practical kind of entry point: a room full of usable material, club members willing to talk bonsai, and a chance to walk out with something better than a flyer.