Spenser Karns (center) of Blue Knob won the 2023 Rookie Auctioneer Championship gavel during the Pennsylvania State Farm Show. Karns also placed sixth in the overall contest. Karns is pictured with David Tremmel Jr. (left) of Claysburg, who placed ninth overall, and Matt Hostetter, president of the auctioneer competition board and past president of the Pennsylvania Auctioneers Association. Courtesy photo

Two local auctioneers competed in the Pennsylvania Auctioneer Association’s bid calling contest Jan. 11 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Spenser Karns of S.D. Karns Auction Service, Blue Knob, was the winner of the 2023 Rookie Auctioneer Championship and placed sixth overall, while David Tremmel Jr. of Tremmel Auction Service, Claysburg, placed ninth overall.

The rookie class is for Pennsylvania-licensed auctioneers with less than two years of experience.

Karns, who graduated from Harrisburg Community College’s auctioneer program with high honors in 2021, worked with local auctioneers Frank Brumbaugh and Tremmel through school to earn practicum hours.

Upon graduation, Karns started S.D. Karns Auction Service with the help of his wife, Julie, his dad, Jeff Karns, and “family and friends pitching in,” he said.

According to contest records, Karns is the first state champion from Bedford County and said he is “over the moon” about his efforts in the contest.

“With calling, I’m more or less self-taught,” he said. “I’ve got hours upon hours of recordings of various auctioneers that serve as a playlist in the car.”

Growing up in Bedford County, Karns said he often spent Saturday’s watching auctioneers Stanley Claycomb and Frank Brumbaugh with his dad and grandfather Harry E. Karns.

Karns said he has a special recipe for success.

“I lost my grandfather, Joseph Diehl, in October 2020, right before I started auction school,” he said. But, his grandfather’s memory lives on in the “form of his old cowboy boots. I’ve worn his boots to auctions all over this county and bid calling competitions across the state for good luck,” he said.

With the Rookie win under his belt, Karns said the boots will now be reserved for special events and auction competitions.