Auburn auction attracts celebrity guest, record attendees

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This year's Auctions America by RM Labor Day auction boasted Willie Nelson's tour bus, a classic car owned by the royal family and special-guest auctioneer Barry Weiss, the star of A&E's "Storage Wars."

It also boasted record attendance since Auctions America took over the event, said Chief Financial Officer Ed Cepuran. While numbers weren't available for Sunday, the final day of the auction, Cepuran said the event in three days had exceeded attendance over four days last year.

He said he expected final numbers to be up by 35 percent from last year's 43,000 attendees.

Auctions America also added other family-friendly attractions like helicopter and monster truck rides.

Thousands of attendees lined up for the chance to get an autograph and photos with Weiss, who also helped auction off his Koptic Yak scooter for $11,000 among other items raising about $35,000 for the family of Sgt. Jabraun Knox, an Auburn soldier killed in Afghanistan, and the Fort Wayne Military Base Community Council Military Fund.

"Auburn is back," said Ian Webb, marketing manager at Auctions America. "It's not just the foot traffic, but the feeling in the air. People are happy to see this place hopping again."

Bill Roebel of Fort Wayne has been attending the auctions since the event's inception. He said he's attended some of the company's other auctions around the country and believes its done a good job in Auburn.

"It's a great sale, well-organized, and the facilities look nice," Roebel said.

The company spent much of the summer, and $250,000 upgrading the auction block area, arena and restrooms. It also runs the auction with the help of nearly 300 paid employees and 1,200 volunteers.

Rolland Johnson of Harlan said a lot of interested buyers looked at his red and white '56 Crown Victoria, but no one committed. He was trying to sell the classic car in the car corral part of the auction, where owners sell their cars themselves.

Johnson said he thought the number of cars being sold in the car corrall looked to be lower than last year. Roebel said he estimated the decrease to be about 60 percent less.

Cepuran said the volume of auctioned cars was the same as in previous years, but the value of the auctioned vehicles was higher. He said the dollar amount sold will exceed last year's.

Georgina Kintz brought daughter Aaliya, 7, and granddaughter Jayleigh Mallory, 4, to look at and learn about the old cars. The girls said their favorite was the "Batman car," or the 1989 Batmobile Warner Bros. Car which was on display and up for auction.

sjanssen@news-sentinel.com