Annual Labor Day Auction remains a crowd pleaser

Mark and Karen Fanning presided over their annual Labor Day Auction sale on Monday at the Chase County Fair Grounds in Imperial.
It was Fanning Auction’s 43rd Labor Day sale that draws one of the biggest crowds every year. “There were a large number of consigned items to be auctioned off, and attendance was very good, in spite of the heat that day,” Karen Fanning said.
“We had four to five auctioneers and their crews working at the same time inside and out with the different categories of sale items.”
“It’s an event quite a few people look forward to and everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time.  The first auctions started at 8 a.m. and we finished up at about 7 p.m.,” she said.
There were about 800 bidding tickets issued and sometimes two people would be bidding off the ticket so there was a lot of activity and energy out here, she said.  We had bidders from nine other states besides Nebraska.
Out of state bidders came from Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Mexico.  A lot of the out of state consigners and bidders are return customers to the event, something they plan for, she said.
Karen Fanning made note that she knows people, bidders and consigners, that schedule vacations every year around the auction date, and stop in Imperial as a part of the trip.
“The auction has a great variety of items, everything from ATVs to farm equipment to furniture items, mowers, trailers, coins, guns, collector cards, saddles, and so on.  A lot of it is good quality and that’s what people are looking to buy,” she said.
Susan Kunnemann from the Imperial area had a 2019 Polaris 570 side by side ATV up for auction. “It’s in excellent condition, I just don’t ride it much anymore and we will see if it finds a new home today,” she said.
Joe Fasso and Marily Chamberlain from Benkelman were there for the love of auctions, they said. Marily bought an 1884 Morgan silver dollar at a price she was happy with.
“Besides people coming to the auction on Labor Day, some camp out here in RV’s beforehand.  The event has two food trucks, one ice cream truck, and one coffee truck,” Karen Fanning said.
“Attendees winning bids pay for their treasurers with either cash or personal checks, she said.  The Imperial and Holyoke, Colorado credit unions have ATM’s on hand for cash,” she said.
“This year was an excellent Labor Day auction event, and we will be back next year, for year 44, she said.”
To put this event on every year is a logistical feat that would not be possible without the support of our crew, the other auctioneers and their crews, and of course the consigners and customers, she said.