The Rural Voice, 1978-04, Page 39Richard Lobb turned his unused barn into a foul weather auction
centre.
A food
place
in
a storm
BY ELAINE TOWNSHEND
What docs an auctioneer do. when a sale of household effects
is scheduled to be held outside on a Saturday afternoon and
when Saturday arrives rain is pelting down?
Sometimes he moves the smaller items back into the house
and covers the larger pieces of furniture with plastic. Other times
he scurries around looking for a building to rent that is large
enough to accommodate all the merchandise. A dance hall is a
perfect solution, but on Saturdays most halls are booked.
In recent years. some auctioneers built new structures for -
storage and for emergency use as auction arenas. Last year
Richard Lobb of Clinton realized he had a solution in his own
hack yard -an empty barn.
With the help of Bob Batty of Clinton, he removed the cow
stables and box stalls from the lower part of the barn, poured a
new cement floor and painted the walls. Upstairs he built a
six -foot -high shelf along each side wall with a long table below it
for clocks, dishes, linen and other small items. He added extra
lights both upstairs and downstairs and installed a furnace.
The renovations began in January '77 and the first sale was
held in March '77. Since then, seven sales have taken place in
the 30' by 40' structure, which provides ample room for
displaying merchandise. To avoid taking up space for an office,,
Richard parks his portable office trailer outside the door. He
points out his auction barn is not a replacement for the
traditional auction sale. "The best place for a sale is on the
premises," he maintains. "And an outdoor sale is great!"
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I nteriors
DECORATING
PHONE 527-0902
SEAFORTH
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try our free home decorating service!
we will help you co-ordinate
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special of the month
bedroom suites.
traditional and colonial styles.
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1978. PG. 39.