Fanning: people like to buy good stuff

    Auctioneer Mark Fanning knows what auction-goers are looking for.
    “People like to buy good stuff. They always have and always will,” he said.
    Fanning completed another one of the Fanning Auction Labor Day sales Monday­—a staple in Imperial the first Monday in September.
    It was Fanning Auction’s 43rd Labor Day sale, and it represents one of Imperial’s biggest crowd-drawers each year.
    While the crowd was good and Fanning said the number of items consigned made it one of their larger auctions, attendance was down due to the heat.
    “I can’t praise people enough for staying because it was hot,” Fanning said.
    He said not in his lifetime has he seen this area so dry.
    They set up four rings with four auctioneers/crews to move things along quicker due to the high temperatures.
    The sale was over by 7 p.m., after an 8 a.m. start.
    There were 650 bidding tickets out this year, acquired by people from eight other states besides Nebraska.
    Out-of-state bidders came from Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota, and some of them are returners. The Labor Day sale is also on calendars for a lot of locals, as well.
    He noted one individual from Illinois always schedules a trip to Colorado each year around the sale date, stopping in Imperial en route.
    “People plan for it,” he said of the out-of-staters.
    Fanning Auction also draws consignors not only from the local area, but from other states, as well.
    Fanning said quality always sells the best, and this year they had a “nice run” of antiques, the focus of many at the sale.
    Other popular items drawing good prices were the mowers, trailers and guns, he said.
    If it’s good quality, people will buy it.
    “The good stuff sells good and the junk, well, it sells like junk,” he added.
    Due to the heat, Fanning said he wasn’t able to allow people to drive through the lines of auction items outside on the fairgrounds this year.
    “Some people were upset because I usually let them drive through,” he said.
    However, this year with the heat and lack of moisture, Fanning said there would have been nothing left of the grass. Added to that was the potential fire hazard.
    “I’ve been doing this for 40 years at the fairgrounds and I want to take care of it,” he said.
    They’ll be back in 2023 on Labor Day for another sale, he said.
    The sale, said Karen Fanning, wouldn’t be possible without their crew, area auctioneers and their crews, consignors and customers.