chicken auction
So what do we do when were poor, looking for some cheap entertainment and also accompany some friends who actually need some chickens? We go to the chicken auction in eclectic, al. As we drive into a trailer park we make our way to the back to find a grass parking lot full of trucks and a tin building with a big plastic KFC sign imbedded within it. As you walk up to the first entrance chickens, goats and rabbits are lined up in cages for expection prior to the auction. Once you make your way pass the auction table, which is nothing more that several folding tables in a row, you look for a seat or place to stand. The interior wall of the building is lined with cardboard with the occasional tuft of insulation peeking thru, the dirt floor is covered first by shag carpet and then various carpet remanats all the way back to the food stand in the back. Your choice of chairs include: overstuff couches, old fashion upholsetry couches, metal, wood or cloth-backed chairs, or ripped out bus seats on concrete blocks. The variety of people and children milling about is entertaining. The auctioneer begins the auction with a prayer which actually pretty straight forward and simple, in the past his political views have been included. And then the auction begins with people displaying the chickens, rabbits or goats to the crowd as the auctioneer sings. The buyer then comes and collects his/her purchase. There is no cage hand-off, the people collect the animal and either transfer to their own cage or sit with it in their lap. Yes chickens get loose and fly about the building occasionally only to be snagged by a someone in the crowd and returned to its owner. It's 2 hours of people-watching entertainment with animals sounds and the auctioneer as the soundtrack. It's simple, very country and hard to explain till you attend.