Amish Away

Spent an overnight in Lancaster, Pa recently going to auctions of the fellowship held at a local firehouse in the area. This was no small affair as items ranging from horses to house wares, and everything in between, were up for bid.
While many of the attendees were Amish, “civilians” were also numerous in their presence and activity, with a total crowd at approx. 2,000.
Little known to me at the time was the pricing on such items as handmade quilts ($300 to $600) and the buggies that the Amish use ($850 for a used one to $3500 for a brand new one – I asked the guy and he said it was to be a wedding gift), 5 piece handmade bedroom sets (beautifully made) for $1200, was an education onto itself.
However, the outcome of the successful bidding is that the item must be taken away from the grounds that day. While this may be seen as a fairly easy exercise in the case of a quilt or farm tools, the buggies are another story altogether.
We witnessed one of the successful bidders of a buggy actually using himself as the horse and pulling (running) the buggy down the state highway with about 10 cars behind him.
We are planning on going next year – with more time allotted to allow for viewing of the items before the bidding.