Despite challenges in 2020, Junior Livestock Sale returns Saturday

Posted 7/22/20

As the year unraveled and the coronavirus pandemic upended most parts of life, it has been rare to see anything guaranteed in 2020.

But months ago — at a time when most things were being …

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Despite challenges in 2020, Junior Livestock Sale returns Saturday

Posted

As the year unraveled and the coronavirus pandemic upended most parts of life, it has been rare to see anything guaranteed in 2020.

But months ago — at a time when most things were being canceled or postponed — local 4-H and FFA youth were assured: The Park County Junior Livestock Sale would happen in some form in 2020.

“We told everybody from the get-go: I do not know how this is gonna look, but we will provide something for you, and we want you to have this learning experience,” said Joe Bridges, chairman of the Junior Livestock Sale.

Youth learn lifetime skills from their projects, he said.

“It's vital to give them that opportunity to have that and not just say, ‘Well, you don't get it for one year out of your life,’” Bridges said.

After seeing kids grow up in 4-H and FFA and graduate, Bridges said you realize how short of a timeframe it is for youth to get this experience.

Following market shows Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the unique 2020 fair week culminates with Saturday’s sale, beginning at 1 p.m. in the Sale Barn.

“The sale will happen just like it always has happened with kids and the animals coming through,” Bridges said. “We’ll have an auctioneer, ringmen, people sitting in the stands.”

However, for the first time, the Junior Livestock Sale will have an online component, provided by MM Auction Services in Powell.

“That online version will be going in conjunction with the live auction,” Bridges said. “While the animal is in the ring, there'll be a live feed going on for them to be able to watch it and hear the auctioneer.”

Online buyers will be able to place bids when kids are in the ring with their animals, so “we can take those bids live off the internet, along with those that are there personally,” he said.

A link to the online sale is available by visiting the MM Auction website at mmauctions.online and then clicking “current auctions.”

The online auction allows buyers to register in advance and place a maximum bid once the sale order is ready on Saturday.

“Somebody can go in at any time before that sale and select the kid and put a bid in, right out of the gate, what a maximum bid can be,” Bridges said. “Nobody gets to see that — the auction service is the only one that gets to see that.”

Buyers can place their bids remotely, whether it’s a faithful Park County supporter at home or a proud out-of-state grandparent. While they may be hundreds of miles apart, buyers can get in bidding wars — even if one bidder is in the Sale Barn and another is on their couch.

“We could have somebody sitting in Oregon hidden away and somebody's sitting there in the stands and a bidding war happens without them not even having the slightest clue as to who it is,” Bridges said.

For buyers who are uncomfortable being in the barn during the COVID-19 pandemic, the online option gives them the opportunity to still participate, Bridges said.

“We really encourage them to just bid online wherever they feel comfortable from,” he said.

Under the State of Wyoming’s public health orders, livestock sales are exempt from restrictions on the number of people who can gather.

“So number wise, we’re OK that way,” Bridges said. “We would just ask people to take the precautions that they would normally take when they are out in larger crowds or in confined spaces when they're out shopping … whatever it is that they feel helps themselves, we would encourage them to follow those protocols.”

  

‘The community is just absolutely phenomenal’

Bridges has been asked how he thinks the 2020 sale is going to go or what people should expect.

“My statement always has been and will continue to be: Every time I think things are gonna go south at the sale is when we have the greatest success,” Bridges said. “And the community is just absolutely phenomenal when it comes to things like this.”

He said that community includes all of Park County.

“That's deep in my heart, knowing that these kids are still going to be taken care of, because that's what kind of community we live in,” Bridges said.

Last year’s record-setting sale brought in $414,528 for local FFA and 4-H youth, surpassing expectations.

“I don't know how many times you can sit in this position and still be wowed, but it just never ceases to amaze me,” said Bridges, who’s led the sale for more than 15 years.

As the 2020 sale brings new changes and challenges, Bridges said he’s looking forward to the addition of the online bidding.

“I'm excited to not only fix the issue that health concerns brought to us this year, but to take a look at this for down the road,” he said. “What does this bring to the table for the future?”

Many equipment auctions and horse sales have moved to online formats in recent years.

“Across the country, the junior livestock sales have stayed true to the old school method,” Bridges said.

He spent a lot of time on the phone with people across America, “trying to get this put together to make sure we did it right.”

Bridges said he didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, but wanted to see what other junior livestock sales had experienced.

“And there was nobody out there,” he said. “Everybody had the exact same questions I had, trying to figure out how to put this together, and there were auction companies that were scrambling trying to help.”

He said the Park County Fair’s sale is “extremely fortunate” to have MM Auction Services available.

“We're excited to bring them on board with us and to see … if this is something of the future or if this is just to get us through this year,” Bridges said.

Sale leaders will get the Powell-based company the sale order once it’s put together, which is usually sometime Friday night.

“I don't know exactly how quick they will have that available for everybody,” he said. “That's a little bit of an unknown because typically when they're doing auctions, that sale order has been put together for months now.”

The tight turnaround has been “a little bit of a concern on their end, but they've got the manpower and are ready to go to put that together,” he said.

Bridges encourages buyers to get online and register ahead of time, so they can get any questions answered in advance.

He noted that absentee bids still remain available as an option as well.

Oftentimes, someone will call and say, “I need a pig, and this is how much I can spend.”

“We've got lots of people that can really only afford to do a half a hog, and so we work till we find somebody else that can do a half a hog, and put the two together and make it work,” Bridges said.

Other times, people will call and want to support a certain youth, “but this is all I can spend.”

Bridges said to give him a call, and he and fellow volunteers “can walk them through that and get them taken care of.”

For more information about the sale, visit parkcountyfair.com or mmauctions.online. To contact Bridges, call 307-272-2324.

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