FAMILY TRADITION

Bud Humble, Girard, always knows where he’s going to be when the Crawford County Fair rolls around.

On Saturday he finished his 32nd annual stint at auctioneer for the 4-H livestock auction.

“My dad, Walt Humble, was an auctioneer for 44 years and did this auction for 25 years,” Humble said. “I started doing this in 1976. My dad always liked doing it, so it’s natural I’d like it, too.”

He’s hoping the fair tradition will go on for at least a third generation.

“I’ve got my son, Donnie, working at it,” Humble said. “He’ll have to step in some day.”

He does the auction for free. “We just like to do it for the kids,” he said. “Any time you do something for the community, it’s good.”

He volunteers his services for many other auctions as well.

“I think I’ve had 10 benefit auctions so far this year,” Humble said. “Those are good for everybody. I did one sale in McCune that started at 7 p.m. and went up until a quarter till 12. I don’t know where all that stuff for the sale came from. I was selling pies and cakes for $100 apiece, and people were buying them.”

The veteran auctioneer said that such a thing probably wouldn’t be possible in Kansas City or other big cities.

“In small towns, people know each other and they really help each other,” Humble said. “It touches your heart.”

The livestock sale is good, he said, because it helps youngsters save money for college.

“My grandson had a pig in here today,” Humble said. “He was writing out a note telling whoever bought it to feed it twice a day, give it clean water, and walk it every single day. That’s what he did with it.”

Area businesses and individuals bid on the animals, and  Humble knows many of the bidders from past years. One of them was Cole Proehl, who bought the reserve champion goat on behalf of Labette Bank.

“I hardly recognized him,” Humble said. “When he was a kid he had a bucket calf one year, and brought it back the next year when it won grand champion beef — that’s practically unheard of, but you never know how an animal is going to turn out. Now here Cole is buying animals for the bank.”

In addition to his auctioneering, Humble is also involved in real estate, with the Humble Real Estate Company, Girard.

“We’re not up there with the big boys,” he said. “I tell people that we don’t want all the business — we just want theirs.”