ASHLAND – Community leaders welcomed Yoder & Frey Auctioneers to Ashland Monday evening with a ribbon-cutting on the eve of the company’s first auction in the community.
Yoder & Frey is a Holland, Ohio-based business (Toledo area) that has 52 years of experience in heavy machinery auctioneering. Their first auction in Ashland will be Tuesday at 9 a.m. and will last for 12 hours on the former Hospira property at Miller and Fourth streets.
Rows of tractors, backhoes and other construction and farm equipment line the former Hospira site. More than 300 people are expected to attend Tuesday’s auction and owner Peter Clark said the auction could bring in $1.25 million to $1.5 million.
Mayor Glen Stewart, Chamber of Commerce President Barbie Lange, Ashland Area Council for Economic Development Executive Director Kathryn Goon and Fourth Ward Councilwoman Sandra Hedlund Tunnell all welcomed Clark and his company to the Ashland community.
When Clark heard there was a demand for an auction in Ashland, he was connected with property owner David Allen and they both quickly saw the potential. Allen purchased the property from the Community Improvement Corp. Hospira, a hospital products manufacturer that closed its Ashland location in 2007, gifted the land to the CIC in 2011.
“Our intention is to build here and continue to grow this,” Allen said. “The city gave me the opportunity to have this property, and I said when we got it the object was to do something that could impact the city, not just get the property and have it impact David Allen. We wanted to be able to do something and this is is really where it’s at.”
“This is a nice centrally located spot and it’s going through a rebirth so it makes plenty of sense,” Clark said, explaining why his company chose Ashland. “What we are trying to do is more than auctions though. It’s empowering communities, building relationships and helping local economies. We are from Ohio, let’s support Ohio.”
Clark said he expects to have an auction in Ashland at least twice a year, with the next one planned for three days in September.
