The Hillsdale Auction will host its first annual Christmas Auction on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. Hillsdale Auction co-owners Guy and Deb Russell said they hope to make the special auction an annual event for the public.
“It’s a tough time of year for auctions, but I’ve gotten so many good responses already that we’re hoping it blows the doors off,” Guy Russell said.
The auction will take place from 10 a.m. to about 12 p.m. in the new horse barn at the southside of the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds. Attendees can pay with cash, check, or can use most credit cards with a 4% swipe fee.
Deb Russell said there are five different consigners committed to providing brand new items from toys to breadmakers, tools, vacuums, comforter sets, and everything in between.
“It’s a new way for people to get some good deals on Christmas gifts,” Deb Russell said.
Outside at the fairgrounds, there will be the usual small animal and hay and feeder pig auctions during the morning. Inside the building, there will be about 23 free-market vendors during the auction and the large animal sale afterward.
Guy and Deb Russell have owned the Hillsdale Auction for the past four years. For the three and a half years before that, they had managed the auction for the previous owner, Ken Frecker.
Guy Russell has been in the auction business since he was a little boy. He started out at the Hillsdale Auction, close to 50 years ago, he said.
“We run an honest auction, no back or side bidding,” Guy Russell said. “There’s not a lot of hooping and hollering, except if people get excited while bidding. We don’t get too crazy, we just try to sell it and give people an honest dollar.”
