An Amish School Auction 7,500 Feet Up In Colorado (16 Photos)

Young Amish men watching the sale at the La Jara, Colorado auction — A good turnout at the annual Amish school benefit auction in Conejos County, Colorado

So here’s something you don’t see every day – an Amish benefit auction held at over 7,500 feet, in country with vast views as far as the eye can see.

Reader Alan LaFon checks in from an Amish part of America we don’t often hear too much from. These photos come from the annual La Jara Amish School Consignment Auction, held each July in Conejos County in southern Colorado. Alan has been going for years; it’s apparently been running since 2007.

I had a chance to visit this community back in 2021. I can say you really do feel the altitude when you’re there. Denver is known as the Mile-High City and is famous for making visiting sports teams have to use oxygen. But this area is a couple thousand feet higher in elevation than that. And when you’re out in this area, you feel pretty well off the beaten path, that’s for sure.

La Jara, Colorado city limit sign from my 2021 visit – elevation 7,602 feet

Let’s have a look at Alan’s photos. First, the backdrop of this photo tells you right away this isn’t Ohio.

The type of goods on offer – stoves, furniture, and so on, looks about what you’d see at any Amish auction. It’s what’s behind that’s different. Looks like they had a nice turnout.

That impression continues as we head towards one of the tents. Here’s how Alan describes the setup:

Manassa is only about 14 miles from La Jara in Southern Colorado….it is a well attended auction every July and has a large metal building on the grounds where many quilts, furniture and other such things are offered.

That looks to be the metal building at right, with the big white tent alongside it. Longtime readers may recall that back in 2019, the La Jara Old Order Amish Church received county approval to build a reception and meeting hall, with auctions named among its planned uses (along with other uses including funerals, weddings, and fundraising suppers).

Amish don’t typically build all-purpose halls like that, to be used for church functions – those are typically held at home properties. I noted at the time that Amish in the West tend to do things a bit differently than those in the longer-established eastern settlements. So I wonder if that’s what we’re seeing here seven years later. I don’t think I saw it, or if so, recognized what it was, when I was here in 2021.

Now we go into a second tent. Inside, the tables are stacked with hand tools, hardware, and who-knows-what-else.

Here we see the auctioneer with the microphone, and his help, the bid spotters, up on their stand.

Children are always a part of Amish auctions and are usually up to something fun. These guys are taking the pony cart for a spin. Update – Alan adds: “The little boys in the pony cart were actually driving around the grounds selling water!”

A row of buggies and open carriages.

Down by the pond, we see buggies, a boat, some kind of skid loader, and what first looked to me like an old-school movie house projector (the green thing), but I’m pretty sure that’s not what it is 😉

Not everything on offer is in “showroom condition.”

Here’s another note on the event from Alan:

Especially popular are the fried pies that the Amish ladies make as well as other kinds of breads and pies. They also serve hamburgers and hot dogs as part of their auction.

I’ve never bid on anything but go every year for some wonderful people watching!

“Food” and “people” are two big reasons that many Amish attend these auctions as well, so you’re in good company Alan 🙂

Amish began settling the La Jara area in 2004, two years after the first families arrived at nearby Monte Vista, the state’s largest Amish community.

The La Jara settlement has over 200 Amish residents, making it the second-largest in the state. It is also known by the nearby towns of Manassa and Romeo (hence Alan’s reference to Manassa above). Colorado is home to seven Amish communities and over 1,000 Amish people in total.