HAZLETON, Iowa, June 10, 2014 — Photographer Don Poggensee was back in northeast Iowa again recently, photographing “a large, Amish, all-day consignment sale.”  The Wapsie Valley Produce Auction, headquartered in the rural Amish neighborhood west of here, has the big consignment sale once every spring.  It starts with an Amish breakfast at 7 a.m., the auction starts at 9 a.m. and usually lasts until 5 p.m.  The sale attracts customers from a wide area, including a lot of Amish folks and even more “English” folks as the non-Amish are often called by the plain people.  In fact, Poggensee reports that when he stood at the intersection of two paved county roads near the sale site, “there were lines of ‘English cars’ parked on the road shoulders for a mile in every direction.”

Two auctioneers worked sales inside a large produce building, one selling hanging flower baskets and the other one selling Amish furniture.  Outside, several other auctioneers were selling everything else.  Poggensee says if you don’t recognize the items being sold in these photos, “maybe you are still with the younger generation.”

You can write the photographer by email at donpog@netllc.net or comment publicly on the handy form below here.