Next week, the women of Bartow County will have the opportunity to engage in friendly competition over some of the latest designer handbags all while contributing to a local scholarship fund.

"I would say it's one of our most fun events and it's strictly geared toward women here in the community," Etowah Scholarship Foundation Director Page Miller said of the fourth-annual All About the Bag purse auction. "Last year we raised over $12,000 and we're looking to do better than that this year."

According to a press release, "This annual event will feature live and silent auctions of some of the largest and most popular names in handbags, including Coach, Dooney & Bourke and Vera Bradley, as well as purses in the most fashionable designs and colors."

The event will be at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, at Stonewall Manor.

Miller said there will be up for auction more than 70 handbags, all stuffed with "goodies" such as jewelry, T-shirts, gift certificates and more. This year's premiere bag is a Prada with a retail value of $1,200.

"It's going to be quite an event. We're going to have Fox News radio coming out, we have a pink carpet people can walk down and we're going to have a videographer shooting the event so it's going to be a little more exciting than in years past," she said.

Miller said the event is being sponsored by local and national businesses as well as local colleges. She added that without the community, the foundation would not be successful.

"Not only is it important people know [the Etowah Scholarship Foundation] exists, but know everybody in the community keeps it going. This past year we gave out $167,000 in scholarships, which is about a 45 to 50 percent increase over the year before and that was all through generous contributions from people in the community," Miller said. "We support only students here in the community whether they're going to grad school, they're going back to school after taking some time off, or following a traditional route and going [to college] right out of high school.

"We're one of only 10 entities like this in the nation, so the fact that we have this resource in Bartow County means we educate our students here. When you think of all the national reports going on related to the cost of tuition, the increase of student debt when they get out of school, it's extremely important that we give toward education and the Etowah Scholarship Foundation is a way to do that."

According to the press release, "General admission tickets are $30 and include hor d'oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages. A limited amount of VIP tickets are still available for $60 and are all-inclusive, with perks such as early entry, reserved seating and a wine-tasting by Douglas Green Bellingham. Dress for the event is cocktail casual, and attendees will be wearing anything from jeans and trendy tops to casual cocktail dresses.

"Raffle tickets for the Prada bag can be purchased for $10. Madelyn Arnold was the lucky winner of the Louis Vuitton that was raffled off at the conclusion of last year's event."

For more information, call the foundation at 770-382-1757.