Crowds swarm to 52nd Southport Fire Department auction

ART MAYERS News Contributor
Sat, 08/18/2018 - 8:15pm
Berchel and Lisa Rollins buy their dream boat at the Southport Fire Department auction. ART MAYERS/Boothbay Register
Ava and Stacey Gauthier and Lianna Kingsbury try out some fancy chairs. ART MAYERS/Boothbay Register
Nate Rideout scores a new bike. ART MAYERS/Boothbay Register
Robbie Watts makes breakfast muffins. ART MAYERS/Boothbay Register

    Locals, summer residents and those from away showed up in numbers for the 52nd Cecil C. Pierce annual Southport Volunteer Fire Department auction and flea market on Saturday, Aug. 18.

    “They were lined up at 5:30,” said fireman Brooks MacMillen.

    MacMillen said the department annually spends weeks collecting donated items from around the Boothbay region. Volunteers work into the night the Friday before to set up flea market and yard sale goods, he said.

    When the auction began with a clang of the department firebell, Fire Chief Gerald Gamage announced it was not a professional auction but was meant for fun. He added, the auction brought in over $500,000 the first 51 years. The auction took the name of Cecil C. Pierce who ran the auction for 20 years before his death.

    “It is almost a national holiday,” said auction-goer Claire Jarrow.

    “We wait all year for this,” said Lisa Rollins of East Boothbay.

    Southport Central School volunteers provided breakfast and lunch.

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