Deal hunters turn out for annual city surplus auction

Thursday morning, Jason Wedding was loading a number of bicycles into a truck at the Owensboro Sportscenter.

Wedding had just purchased the bicycles during the city’s annual surplus auction.

Wedding said he did didn’t plan to sell the bicycles, but would keep them for family use, and to distribute to relatives.

“My dad bought me a bike when I was a kid” at the auction, Wedding said, and that the auction is a good place to purchase bicycles for a small amount of cash.

“I bought seven (bicycles) for 50 bucks,” Wedding said. “It’s less than $10 a piece.”

The annual auction is a joint effort between the city, the local public school districts and agencies like Owensboro Municipal Utilities and Regional Water Resource Agency.

Thursday morning, the parking lot was filled with old police patrol cruisers, pickup trucks and vans, school buses and pieces of lawn equipment.

Ronald Hogg was at the auction looking for lawn mowers.

“My wife and I bought some land in Muhlenberg County, so we were thinking what we could buy to help take care of it,” Hogg said.

Thursday was Hogg’s first year at the auction.

“Every year I plan to come out, and then something comes up and I miss it,” Hogg said.

This year’s auction was different from previous events. The city didn’t have any electronics or furniture on sale, or any jewelry confiscated during Owensboro Police Department drug investigations.

Kalyn Fox, the city’s purchasing agent, said the city has switched to selling electronics to recyclers through a state contract, while items like furniture and jewelry were sold online.

Selling small items online “is an easier auction for all involved,” Fox said, and that, “We’re going to sell online throughout the year.”

Sales totals and turnout at the auction weren’t available Thursday afternoon.

Tim Christie, who also bought a number of bicycles, said Thursday was also his first city auction.

“I didn’t plan on getting bicycles, but I got bicycles,” Christie said. “I’ll fix them up.”

Christie said, “Auctions are addicting. You might find something at a decent price.”

Damon Crawford, of Owensboro, said he tries to come to the auction every year, if he’s off work that day.

Crawford said he has purchased several items at the auction over the years. When asked the most interesting item he’d purchased there, Crawford said, “either a whole gym’s worth of equipment, or a Cadillac.”

Assistant City Manager Lelan Hancock said surplus vehicles from the city’s fleet have been serviced across their service lives.

“Our garage does a fabulous job of maintaining our equipment,” Hancock said, and that if the city sells equipment at the auction, “there’s still life in it.”

Jan Miller and Carla Miller had been hoping to purchase a vehicle for their granddaughter at the auction, but that the bidding went higher than they were willing to pay.

“We’re looking for ourselves now,” Carla Miller said.

The family has purchased a vehicle from the auction before.

“It’s still running,” Carla Miller said.