The Rural Voice, 1988-10, Page 38A COMMUNITY AUCTION
by Cathy Laird
Jim Snider, Elwood Snider, and Lawrence Knaggs
Farming and auction sales, for better and for worse, go hand in hand . .
... And when farmers have local
auctioneers who do their best to make
a farm sale successful, they are indeed
fortunate. In the Owen Sound area,
Elwood Snider and his family have
been involved with farming and
auctioneering for more than 30 years.
Elwood Snider taught himself the
rapid speech patterns that make a good
auctioneer. His first auction was for a
Junior Farmers pie social in about
1950. Elwood sold the pies. His
brother-in-law, Lawrence Knaggs, has
been auctioneering since 1951 and got
Elwood a job in a second sales ring at
the Owen Sound Livestock Market
near Rockford.
Lawrence also auctioneered at the
Keady Livestock Market, and Elwood
began working there too, selling from
1965 to 1986. He became a real estate
agent as well. Since 1960, he has
been auctioneer at many farm sales in
local townships.
In the fall of 1968, the Sydenham
Community Auction sales building
was erected in Sydenham Township
just off Highway 26. At one time, the
Snider family had lived on the proper-
ty. The first general consignment sale
took place in March of 1969. The
business started with one sales ring
and Elwood and Lawrence Knaggs as
auctioneers. "We were fortunate to
have Lawrence to help get the busi-
ness going," Elwood says. Elwood's
sons, Jim, Glen, and Rick, sold pop
and chocolate bars at the sales.
This early exposure to auctioneer-
ing led Jim Snider to decide to join
the family business. After graduating
from high school, he attended an
auction school in Billings, Montana.
"To learn to be a good auctioneer
is to be exposed to the public and
accepted by the public," Elwood says.
In 1979, Elwood turned over a sales
ring at Sydenham Community Auction
to Jim and "walked away."
"One thing I've always stressed,"
Elwood says, "is to speak plainly
enough that the public can understand.
Often there are large amounts of mon-
ey involved. Eye contact is important,
too."
When the hard times of the early
1980s hit farmers in the area, Elwood
continued to put his business philo-
sophy into practice. "Auctions were
originally designed to obtain as much
money as possible for the farmers who
are selling out."
The Grey -Bruce Georgian Bay
area was noted for successful farm
auctions. "Yes, we had the banks
phone us, but we always dealt with the
farmer," Elwood says. "Everything
was sold in the farmer's name."
Sydenham Community Auction
Ltd. has grown from one sales ring to
three, all selling simultaneously. Sales
used to include about 150 items, but
36 THE RURAL VOICE