(Facebook/Bruce Schapansky Auctioneers)

By Alice McFarlane

Biggest sale of the year for local auction company

Apr 21, 2020 | 2:00 PM

Bruce Schapansky Auctioneers at Tisdale are preparing for their biggest auction of the year.

COVID-19 has changed how business is conducted but the auction will go ahead with a slightly different format.

Auctioneer Barrie Jung said it’s been changed to a two-day event starting April 28.

“We’ve filled up day one. We’re only going to run one ring when normally we would have five rings going at a one-day auction,” Jung told farmnewsNOW. “We feel it would be too confusing trying to go back and forth between two rings when it’s online only. One ring day one and one ring for the second day.”

The miscellaneous items and smaller equipment will now be a timed only auction running May 5 to 12.

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Jung said they had two auctions in Manitoba on the weekend and they went very well. He said everyone co-operated with the COVID-19 protocol.

“We’ve been doing at least partial online auctions for a number of years now so the transition hasn’t been hard for us. We’re already set up for it,” he said. “A lot of the bidders voluntarily bid online. Some are forced to now so it’s a little harder on them than it is on us.”

Jung said they have spent time going through the process with bidders to make sure they’re comfortable with the format and it’s been working well.

Jung said there is some activity on site during an auction.

“We’re an essential service so we’re allowed to have 10 people and we’re outdoors so they stayed a distance apart. There was a few neighbours and some family but that was about it. Everybody else was online,” he said.

Auctions have been a combination of people doing business as well as a social event. He said COVID-19 has changed the farm auction.

“Both auctions in Manitoba were retirements. They were really looking forward to having their friends come out and spend the day with them. It was really disappointing for the owners that they couldn’t have that. The results of the auction were excellent but there wasn’t the camaraderie,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF