Live Auction — Blog — srdorsey auctioneering Steve Dorsey Portland Oregon fundraising auctioneer (2024)

We finished our final fundraiser of 2020 this past weekend with Soul River, and their Gala at the Drive Inn. Close to 100 people turn up at the World of Speed parking lot for the Drive inn Fundraiser.

Because of the new rules on social distancing, everyone stayed in their cars, and box dinners were delivered to the guests. So that everyone could enjoy the featured speakers, film and of course the auctioneer, a FM frequency was used so everyone could hear the gala through there car speakers.

We did a raffle and a Special Appeal, it worked out great! It pays to think outside the box.

The auction world is starting to slowly come back to life again! But it may not be like it was before the shut down. The wholesale car auctions are slowly clawing back to life again.

The independently owned auctions have begun running cars through the building but at half capacity and with dealers wearing masks and exercising social distancing. The larger corporate ones, are completely simulcast with no one in auction arena. Both seem to be working, so we’ll see what happens as we get into the summer.

All my fundraising events were cancelled in February, March, April and May. I’m not sure when these auctions will return to the time when patrons would sit shoulder to shoulder with 200-600 of their auction friends. I have an event in August which is held outdoors, it still a go so we’ll see how we do.

I’ve worked as a wholesale auctioneer for thirty years, which means driving and flying to my weekly auction gigs. I have relied on airplanes to get me to where I’m going. Up until three weeks ago it seemed to be the perfect business plan! Not anymore.

I was still taking my weekly flight to Las Vegas on Wednesday’s afternoons but then when lock down came to Sin City so did the my flights.

Now what do I do? Hey, I’ll drive to Vegas. It’s only a 1000 miles, and I could really use a paycheck. As an auctioneer I work as a contract employee, so if I’m not working I don’t get paid. And because of the uncertainty of being able to fly and no more work on my Wednesday’s or Thursday’s I decided to make the trip. Probably my last days of work in Vegas too.

I have always like to drive on long trips. Whether its in cars or motorcycles, I enjoy being alone on the open road. When I first started out as an auctioneer I would hop into my old Porsche 911 and drive hours to get some mic time.

I decided to take a longer route through the Ochoco National Forest, east toward John Day, south to Burns and crossing the border into Nevada.

I never even turned the radio for the drive. Instead, I spent a lot of time just thinking about the past, future and more importantly the present. Rehashing the pain of old memories, were softened by the beauty of the sunrise cresting over the mountains tops of central Oregon. As I crossed into the vast openness of the northern Nevada landscape my thoughts were replaced with the realization that all can do is accept that things are going to change, and I’ll make my way thru this situation some way or some how.

Social Distancing was in full force as I was traveling alone, paying at the pump and with no place to eat along the way.

Except for a couple stops at a Starbucks drive thru, I never saw or spoke to anyone on the way down. Which really is kinda sad. I always like strike up a conversations with the locals when I’m traveling

Hopefully, the new normal won’t be panic, fear and distance when we encounter our fellow humans when this all passes.

Everyone be safe out there.

It’s hard to believe I’m down to my last two fundraisers for 2019. On Sunday evening Soul River held their third annual Gala. Each year this small non profit, lead by Chad Brown and his small team has continued to expand their work with both veterans and inter city youth here in Oregon. Soul River is deeply involved on the pressing environmental issues here in Oregon, on Native American lands and in the Arctic. I encourage you to learn more about Soul River, www.soulriverinc.org.

My Labor Day weekend was spent working in Sun Valley, Idaho. I headed up to Idaho to help my old friend Mitch Silver with his 32nd annual Labor Day auction. Situated on the grounds of the Sun Valley Lodge over 125 vehicles crossed the block over the two day sale.

It had been over a decade since I had last worked this auction, it was great to see some of my old friends from the car business, and laugh about the old days when we were much younger. The weather was perfect and the crowds filled the tent on Saturday to look at and bid on a wide range of collector cars. I’m looking forward to going back next year.

The super sized motor home sold for $125,000.

The second week in May is always a busy for me. We start off on Tuesday with one of my long time clients, the Fly Fisher Club of Oregon, with their annual foundation auction. We will be raising money again this year for the continued protection of native fish and stream reclamation projects here in the state of Oregon.

On Saturday we will be working the Blosser Center, they help both children and adults who are dealing with Dyslexia. In between that I’ll be doing weekly car auction here in Portland and then heading down to Las Vegas to finish out my week.

Remember the call I got two months ago? I said yes to a fundraising auction that was to take place in a local Portland taproom. I got the call when the original auctioneer had backed out because she did not like the group's final selection of venue.

Well, it turned out really well! It actually turned out better than any one of us could have imagined. We ended up raising nearly double the net proceeds that they had in years past. They were so pleased with the results that they rebooked us right away for their next year's event.

I'm sure glad we said yes. It was a great group and a fun auction to work and we're looking forward to doing it all again next year. It just goes to show that success can be found anywhere and everywhere, as long as you open your mind and eyes to the possibilities.

Thirty years ago, I started my career in the auction business.It was the evening of May 20, 1988 in my hometown of Spokane. It's easy for me to remember because it was my 27th birthday.

I was helping out my future employer, Mitch and his buddy Stuart at a fundraising event. Before that;I had never even attended an auction, let alone worked at an auction! My job that night was to simply help spot anyone's hand that shot up in the air, then let out a "Yep!" loud enough for the auctioneer to hear.It was a lot harder than it looked. Now turn the clock ahead thirty years and I have been the auctioneer of over 400 fundraising auctions.Who would have ever imagined what that one evening would lead to? This unexpected and rewarding career is what came of that night and I feel so lucky to be a part of it after all these years.

2017 marks 27 years that I have been an auctioneer.

It is a very unusual line of work and I have had some very interesting opportunities. Of course; there were times when I felt discouraged, or I got passed up for a gig that I really wanted, and even been fired from one. I never did give up and sure glad that I didn't. It's not like I grew up thinking I would be an auctioneer when I was a little kid. It just kind of happened.

Well, last week I had one of those chance of an auctioneer's lifetime kind of jobs. I got to work with the Portland-based, global advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy. The Wieden+Kennedy folks are the ones behind those great television ads for KFC. I was picked to play the role of an auctioneer for KFC's first ever livestream on Twitter. We did a super fun 30-minute bit auctioning off the props from some of the Colonel's best-known TV commercials. It was really fun! It turned out to be quite a hit too, with over 50,000 live viewers, and is steadily approaching 73K views. You can watch it here: