Lyle Area Cancer may be fresh off a milestone 2015, but its work is far from over.

A year after raising a record $230,000 and surpassing the $2 million mark overall through 36 years, Lyle Area Cancer will cap another busy year of fundraising to stamp out cancer with the 37th annual auction this Friday and Saturday.

The auction will be held in the Lyle American Legion and the adjoining Lyle maintenance building. This year’s auction starts at 6 p.m. Friday and will continue until around midnight or 1 a.m. The auction resumes at 11 a.m. Saturday and runs until the last item sells, typically between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Even after its milestone 2015, co-chair Larry Ricke said there’s likely to be no shortage of new memories made in 2016.

“It’s the same exciting stuff every year, but just different memories,” he said.

“It’s a good time, that’s what I tell people,” he added.

Ricke joked he’d practically have to write a book to share all his favorite LAC memories, especially since he and other volunteers get to see everything from up close throughout the year.

“People don’t realize, they miss a lot of stuff of what we see of the core volunteers,” Ricke said.

While LAC closes with the auction, it’s a team effort of events peppered throughout the year. One of the most exciting things to Ricke is seeing new committees form and the excitement volunteers bring. Those volunteers, he noted, have been touched by cancer in a way that drives them to raise money.

Ricke said all the events — from Spin for a Cure to Oktoberfest, the Halfway to January Cancer Bash, Cruise for a Cure, Quilting for a Cure, Crop for a Cure, Farmboy Barbecue, Cans for Cancer and Squeeze Out Cancer and more — had good years.

“Everything was a huge success thus far,” Ricke said of the events to date.

Ricke also noted the auction’s kitchen had a great year in 2015, but it often doesn’t get recognized until the following year.

Ricke admitted, half jokingly, that as LAC totals have grown, he’s occasionally feared their math was wrong, especially the first time they surpassed $200,000 in 2013 and after last year’s record.

“Last year was unbelievable,” he said.

Like every year, things will be a bit different in 2016. Ricke noted a few fundraising events didn’t return, and he said he understands that people get busy.

But the need to raise funds for cancer research continues, and Ricke pointed to Austin’s Hormel Institute as a sign that the technology and need is always changing. Ricke and other LAC volunteers toured The Hormel Institute, as he said it’s exciting to know that much of the money raised at the auction is able to go to research being done in Mower County.

“We filled that place with volunteers,” Ricke said of their tour. “That was awesome.”

He described it as an eye-opening experience and he was thankful for the Institute’s willingness to show them the facility.

But it’s not just the auction. Tickets are still on sale for the annual Harley Raffle for $20 by calling Roe Naylor at 507-438-5804. The winner, drawn Saturday night, will get a Harley Davidson motorcycle, second place will get $400 and third place $200.

However, one change this year will come Saturday night. To capitalize on the big crowds attending on Saturday, no events will make pledges to LAC from 7 to 9 p.m. The plan is to keep the bidding and auction going during that time.

As with every year, there are many unique items planned for the auction, including a few LAC-themed quilts made by volunteers. Annual items like the $5,000 Overby Orthodontics gift certificate will return, as will many other items.

Ricke said there’s always something new every year. He laughed that he never thought there’d be items like a timeshare in Florida, which sold last year.

“The next thing that’s going to surprise me is a load of cattle,” Ricke laughed. “That’s going to surprise me. What’s next?”

“We created a monster; it’s a good monster I guess,” Ricke added.