[GSAS-Member] VAHC auction - what a blast!

["Phil Lacefield Jr." <phil@lacefield.com>]

Hey all!  Calye and I loaded up the car this past Friday afternoon and
headed north to North Vancouver, there to spend the night with Dave Carlson,
the guy who runs their annual auction up there - some of you may remember
him and his buddy Mike who came to our auction this past April.  I had
contacted Dave and volunteered to help him with his big show, which was
Saturday, and he readily accepted.

We were stopped on the Canadian side of the border, not for having about a
bazillion plant clippings and equipment in the trunk but because there's a
guy in the federal pen in Memphis who has the same first and last name as
me.  Go figure!  The auction was held in a parish gym, and used a very nifty
camera/projector system that sounds similar to what we'll have.  As an
auctioneer, I cannot speak highly enough about how well this system works
for everyone concerned!

There were probably over 700 lots in the auction, and easily 150 or more
people in attendance.  Setup started at 7AM and the first lot hit the block
at 10AM sharp, and we went pretty much nonstop until about 4:30PM.  We did
take ten-minute breaks every couple of hours, and one 30-minute lunch break
at 12:30, which was a REALLY cool thing!  They were serving hot dogs, pizza,
cookies, soda, etc out of the kitchen in the back of the gym, so we didn't
lose too many people at lunch (something they'd had a big problem with
before, and maybe something we might want to look into?) 

Dave told me the night before over dinner that he's always run the auction
and rarely had a chance to bid on things or to even look around at how well
things were or were not going, so I volunteered to help him out with calling
lots.  Turns out, I called the whole auction, beginning to end, and I was
more than happy to do so!  He said our system of auctioning ("last hand up
wins") was much MUCH faster than their more traditional auction system, and
everyone in attendance was thrilled that I ground through so many lots in a
relatively short time.  I had a bit of a sore throat on the way home, but
past that I was just thrilled to help out.  

Their auction consisted of many more plants and animals than our annual
auction typically does, and less equipment, but they had some fantastic door
prizes of complete systems as well as a HUGE pile of donations, all of which
benefits their charity - which is something I'd like to discuss with the
board when next we meet, as I think it's a fantastic way to spend the club's
money in support of a very worthwhile cause.  Their charity helps South
American gatherers of fish manage their resources in an environmentally safe
and stable way, while helping the citizens have good lives.  IT is all
incredibly cool, and something I Can't wait to share with OUR club!

Coming home was an anti-climax, as we had a trunkful of fish, plants and
other goodies, but the border guard didn't even so much ask us what we'd
bought while in Canada.  Yay for the Blaine truck crossing!  Calye took many
pictures, and we'll post them soon.

Phil



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