By ERIC C. RODENBERG
AntiqueWeek Editor LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — The folks in south-central Pennsylvania certainly know how to usher in spring. They roll up their pants, pull on some boots and head off to the nearest mud sale.
It is a singular event. Early in the morning, the old ways meet the modern; traditional straw hats mingle with baseball caps; buggies park next to SUVs. The bidders collect in a muddy field or in the midst of an Amish country village, all their attention focused on the auctioneer calling out bids from atop a hay wagon.
“It’s a unique tradition in this, the oldest settlement of Amish in the United States,” says Joel Cliff, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau. “I don’t know of anywhere else in Pennsylvania, or any other Amish community, where there are such sales. It’s a unique part of our culture.”
Nearly anything can be found at mud sales, which generally start at 8 or 8:30 a.m. and continue through 4 to 5 p.m. There are genuine antiques in addition to the traditional Amish quilts and crafts. The Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is not to be missed. On a cold morning, freshly baked pastry, steaming chicken corn soup, pot pie, birch beer, hot cider and coffee make for a “powerful draw” to mud sales.
The timing – from the second week of February to the third week of April – couldn’t be better as it is too early for spring planting and yard work. The sales are nearly each weekend in nearly every town and village of this 984-square mile region of the Pennsylvania Dutch country.
And since the 1960s, the mud sales have been for a good cause: They help sustain the many volunteer fire departments that dot the Lancaster County country side.
“It’s a very big part of our budget,” says Gap, Pa., Volunteer Fire Co. Assistant Chief Kevin Beiler. “It probably brings in $50,000-55,000 profit … and that’s money needed for new equipment, maintenance and so forth.”
The Gap Volunteer Fire Co., provides fire fighting coverage for 6 square miles of the community, in addition to assisting other local departments. The department has about 40 active members, 15 of whom come from the Amish community.
“The Amish community plays a big role,” Beiler says. “The women do the baking. They also make quilts and other crafts donated to the sale. The men, they help set up the sale … it’s basically everyone working together.”
For the Gap Volunteer Fire Co., its March 27 mud sale will be their 34th year. During those years, the department has sold through snow, sleet, rain and sunshine. Like all good mud sales, the show goes on despite the weather.
“We’ve had all kinds of weather,” Beiler says, “we have never missed a day … it would take a lot of snow to shut us down.”
It has taken a few decades for the mud sales to gather the momentum they have today, drawing bidders from not only outside the county, but also the state. The Gap mud sale is one of the oldest in the county.
“It’s taken us years to get where we are,” Beiler says. “But, now it’s our major fundraiser … we’d have an awfully hard time protecting the community without it.”
And, the Lancaster County community is finding the mud sales to be a big economic boost. Although no figures are available, Cliff says the sales add appreciably to the astounding $1.8 billion of Lancaster County’s tourism revenue.
“These sales play a big role in our tourism business,” he says. “They are very important to us – and becoming more so every year.”
Typically, items run through the mud sales ring quickly. Adding to the chaos of a mud sale is the cacophony of bid calling from four or five auctioneers working their own sale ring within the close proximities of the sale. Multiple rings are the rule rather than the exception. Baseball caps, straw hats and bonnets drift from one ring to another, looking for a bargain.
“There’s always something new to see,” Cliff says. “No two sales are the same.”
These early months of spring in Lancaster County also offer out-of-towners the unusual opportunity to relax with the Amish at a genuine country auction.”
“The mud sales are very public,” Cliff says. “It’s a good opportunity to mix and mingle with the Amish. They have a different way of life; but, it feels good to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other and bid. Besides, everybody’s interested in getting a good deal.”
For additional information, visit www.padutchcountry.com |
