Yoder Consignment Auction

So, my husband has been doing a lot of driving and hauling for the local Amish lately, as a way to keep busy and earn some mad money in retirement.  A few weeks ago he discovered Yoder’s Consignment Auction, and I had to check it out.

This is a twice-a-year event (spring and fall) that draws huge crowds.  Earnest and Esther Yoder hold the auction on their farm, which is located a few miles southwest of Shipshewana at 2270 S 1000W.  Friday is the day to set up, and Saturday is the auction. 

I went out last Friday (April 13)  with my husband and an Amishman who has a water treatment business.   

The trucks, trailers, and buggies were lined up down the road all day, waiting to get onto the grounds and check in their consignment items.  Vendors were setting up their tent displays or unloading items.  The public was also in attendance, walking around to preview the items for sale.  A school fundraiser group was there to feed everyone.

The fields were filling up fast with machinery of all kinds. On Saturday, there would be a mobile auction booth on the back of a pickup truck, which would drive up and down the aisles and auction off the large outdoor items. 

As many as five auctioneers would work at once, both outdoors and in the tents.  The Saturday schedule was: 

• 8:30 a.m. – Wagonloads of miscellaneous
• 9:00 a.m. – Hog, dairy, and farm equipment; sporting goods; new and used furniture; bicycles; shop tools; and lawn/garden items
• 9:30 a.m. – Horses
• 10:00 a.m. - Buggies

Besides the actual auction, there were rows and rows of tents, and our friend had rented one of the smaller ones to set up his display.  Other larger tents had goods for sale, both new and used.  There was plenty of food, both in the main building where the local Amish school fundraiser was selling both hot and cold items, and from other food vendors on the grounds.

Saturday brought more rain.  But in spite of the terrible weather, it was a good day.  The crowd was overwhelmingly Amish, and the fields nearby had become “buggy parking lots.”  The crowds were smaller than usual, but still large, and our friend sold ten water treatment units that day! 

The next Yoder Consignment Auction is some time in the fall.