Auction evolves

Anyone who had attended a Jay County Fair 4-H livestock auction in the 1980s wouldn’t have recognized Friday’s event.

Most of the animals are gone.

It’s been several years since all of the 4-H livestock made its way into the show arena.

These days, it’s just the grand champions and reserve grand champions that take a star turn in front of the bidders.

And this year the venue changed.

Gone were the flies of the show arena. Gone was the steamy heat of a July day.

Moved to the 4-H Building, the auction seemed to attract a larger crowd and more bidders than ever. And because of the more comfortable setting, those bidders stayed longer and maybe put a few more dollars into play.

The unofficial total — before “add ons” that bidders make when they pay the bill — comes in at $95,905.

“Everybody likes it,” said Jay County 4-H Council president Dennis Chenoweth, “except for the noise.”

The acoustics in the building turned the hum of conversation into a steady roar, and some said they had trouble following the bidding, even though there was a professional public address system in play.

Chenoweth said folks are already discussing how to improve the sound situation next year. But the chances of returning to the show arena seem slim.

Backstage there have been other changes as well.

Over the years, the auction has made the transition from hand-written record-keeping to adding machines to calculators and to — sometimes hit and miss — computer programs.

“This is our first year trying to do it all with the computer,” said Kristen Schoenlein, who leads a team of about 11 volunteers working behind the scenes to keep track of bids, bidders, and kids. Assisting the volunteers, she said, “We have the office staff from Purdue,” referring to the extension service.

Chenoweth said that, in all, the livestock auction itself involves the work of about 50 volunteers, many of whom will give hours and hours of service before and after fair week.

And that doesn’t count the volunteer service of the auctioneers.

This year saw Laci Smitley, Ben Lyons, Pete Shawver Jr., Zane Shawver, Travis Theurer, Gary Loy, Mel Smitley, and Pete Shawver Sr. donating their services and taking turns at the microphone to get the bids rolling.

That won’t change.

But there’s a good chance that 4-H leadership will continue to try to find ways to make the auction an even greater success in the future, more enjoyable for bidders and more rewarding for the kids.

“We’re hoping to next year start a buyers’ club,” said Schoenlein, looking at new ways to attract potential bidders who can’t find the time to attend the hours-long auction.