Fieldnotes 2

Red Barn Auction: 10/11/2008 @ 6:30pm

I must say, I like this auction 110% better than the one before. The outside is much more inviting, although it looks a little run down. Directly inside the front doors to the right is a half door when you get your numbered paddle. This auction house is definately more "upscale" because the other auction house just wrote a number on a torn off piece of paper for you to hold up when bidding, Red Barn has actual paddles. Once you have gotten your paddle you have the option of going through a set of doors into the room where the auction takes place or to walk around and view the pieces of furnature on sale, seperate from the auction. There is a hallway that leads to the back room where couches, coffee & end tables, love seats, and foutons are arranged for your "viewing pleasure". Along that same hallway are a set of stairs that lead to second story rooms filled with bed sets and dinning room tables and chairs. The consession stand is also located down that hallway in a room that used to be storage. They used to have a food trailer located out in front of the building, like the kind you see at the fair. I personally believe that they moved the snacks inside because the food trailer was a ticking time bomb. There is only so much duct tape that can be use before you know its time to get a new one, and the amount of extension cords they had coming from one outlet screamed death trap.

The room in which the auction takes place is large. There are rows of folding chairs directly inside the door that line the back wall. A few feet in front of them starts the rows of old church pews. This section of seating is divided down the middle by a wide isle into tow sides. The left side is considered the smoking section and the right side is the non-smoking section. They are designated by hand stenceled signs strung from the side walls, which I think is hillarious. As soon a two or three people light up, the whole place becomes a smoking section. There are no windows that actually open or exhaust fans for that matter. The smoke just kind of hangs there, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone. The pews are close together, its hard to cross your legs, and if you are on the inside you have to climb over the people nest to you to get out. It can be a little awkward at times.

7:15p
The night starts out with the usual scramble from the auctioneer's son Shawn, who gets things rolling if his dad is running late. Odds and ends go up first to kill time; American, POW/MIA, and Dale Earnheart flags, along with zip ties and under the counter organizers are the first items up for bid. As a new item comes up for sale, a worker walks up and down the main isle so that everyone can get a good look. After a minute or two of hyping up the item and maybe doing a demonstration, Shawn begins that "auctioneer speek" of incoherant words, mesher with dollar amounts, and what sounds like a little humming. Depending on the size and possible uses of the item up for bid, they will usually start high with the price and then work their way down. If you like what you see, you simply raise your paddle in the air. Once Shawn reaches a fair price he will stop and say something like, "lets price this at $4.99" and then paddles begin to raise up all over the place. Usually Shawn and one other person run into the back storage area located off the stage and come back with boxes of that peticular item. They then proceed to yell as loud as they can the number on a persons paddle and then how many that person wants, "98 two times!!" I have just put my paddle up for a desk lamp with bult in speakers that you can hook up any MP3 player to, for only $8.00!! The suggested retail price listed on the box is $39.99, gotta love that! You can get just about anything from this place. So far I have this lamp, four tiki torches, some Halloween decorations, two American flags for my dad, and a Coleman rugged water canister thingy for my mom...oh and some dog toys for my mutt to promptly destroy.

9:15p
Like at the other auction, my butt is beginning to ache. Shawn's father Dan showed up around 8 o'clock, which is when I think he normally arrives, and took over. There hasn't been anything interesting come up so I am going to get up and stretch my legs. Most of the people here are regulars and it seems that everybody knows everybody. Once empty boxes are beginning to fill up with merchandise as the night progresses. I head to the "concession stand" to get a pop and some nachos and cheese. There are three yong girls manning the room and one asks if I work at Sam's. "Yeah, sure do" I replied with a smile. I get my snacks and the girls go back to their conversation. I go into the back room and check out the sofas. My rear needs to be in a comphy chair. My nachos and cheese are quickly eaten and this chair is really comfortable, I feel like I might fall askeep, I better go back inside.

11:00p
People are beginning to leave and the auction pace is slowing down and it looks like Dan is goig to end the night early. He normally doesn't do that but about one quarter of the original people are still here and not too many of us are bidding. Dan wraps up with a few more items and then calls it a night. The last thing to do is pick a winner for the nightly raffel. Out comes the spinny number tumbler. If the person with the winning number has left already, the $20 will go towards next Friday nights raffel. Number 143 is called and the winner is still in the crowd, unfortunatley its not me. Everyone gathers their boxes of goodies and begin to head towards the front to check out. It was a good night. I got to hang out with friends and buy a lot of stuff I will probably never use.