Regretfully, there will be no live, voice art auction at Chattacon this year. This has come about for a couple of reasons. According to the State of Tennessee we must use a licensed auctioneer. Also over the past 4 years the interest in a live auction has been low. In the past, we have used a silent auction/live auction process. The silent (written) bidding was used to determine which pieces had enough interest to take to a live, voice auction. This was done to keep the live auction to a reasonable amount of time. Consistently over the past 4 years the number of pieces with enough written bids to go to the voice auction has been low, as has the attendance at the voice auction. The primary reason for opting for the silent auction process is the apparent low level of interest in a live, voice auction.
What this means is that all bidding will be written. Because the silent auction does eliminate the voice auction phase, the art show hours for Saturday will be extended to 7:00 pm. Nothing else will change. It will still be possible to purchase pieces with no bids at the direct sale (immediate purchase) price. Sunday will be the time to pick up purchases and to purchase pieces with no bids at the after auction price.
This was not an easy decision to make. No one regrets the lack of a voice auction more than I do. Hopefully over time things will change, the economy will improve and Chattacon can return to a lively voice auction.
