Hundreds of farmers didn’t mind walking through the mud Saturday, April 4, at the Hazelhurst Spring Consignment Sale on Saturday.

In fact, they welcomed it.

“It was nice to see the rain,” said Lyle Hopkins of Polo. “Most of the rain we got this week was slow and intermittent, which was great so it could all soak in. Today was the first hard rain we’ve had. For the weather and everything else we’ve got a heck of a crowd here today.”

Hopkins and his wife, Sheryl, raise beef and farm west of Polo. They also operate the Public Auction Service and host the popular farm equipment sale each year.

On Saturday, hundreds of potential buyers – mostly farmers – wound their way through the mud all day floating between auction rings to buy or sell tractors, wagons, planters and other ag-related items on the 30-acre sale site between Polo and Milledgeville.

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Jim Hart of Ashton and Barry Bernard of Leland chat at the Spring Hazelhurst Consignment Sale held Saturday, April 4, 2026. The annual auction draws farmers from across the region who are looking to buy or sell farm equipment before the planting season begins. (Earleen Hinton)

Sheryl’s mother and father, Ruth and Ellery Shank, hosted the first sale on their farm near the tiny hamlet of Hazelhurst, located west of Polo, in the 1940s as a venue for local farmers to buy and sell farm machinery.

Now the sale draws more than a thousand bidders each year and is held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.

“We issued 1,246 bid tickets and that includes online bidders,” Sheryl said on Saturday.

The auction has become a generational “must do” for area farmers, allowing them to talk shop, complain about the weather or catch up with old friends as they stroll by the rows of farm machinery, vehicles and other miscellaneous items.

On Saturday, some talked about the recent rains, which brought several inches to the region.

“We’ve had between 6-7 inches recently,” said Barry Bernard of Leland. “The fields are flooded right now because we are so flat.”

Phil Fossler of Polo predicted a good growing season once the moisture is absorbed into the soil and farmers are able to get into the fields to start planting.

“I think it is going to be a decent growing season,” said Fossler. “I think we’re going to come out OK with the moisture. Once the ground settles after this rain you will be seeing a lot of fellas out in the fields stirring up dirt.”

Fossler was busy grilling ribeye steak sandwiches at the Ogle County Beef Producers food stand on the western edge of the auction and paused to talk about the weather.

“Most of us north of I-80 have been very lucky with an adequate amount of rain,” he said.

Hopkins said increases in fuel and fertilizer costs may not directly impact some farming operation this year because some of those producers locked into fuel contracts last year and may have already fertilized their fields last fall.

“They [fuel prices] are high but luckily we are already locked in. I can’t complain with the way the cattle prices are right now.” Hopkins said. “You save it one place and spend it in another – that’s the way farming is.

“Luckily we had a good fall and we were able to fertilize a lot. Normally we don’t get to put that much out in the fields in the fall, but for us, the weather cooperated.”

Hopkins said winter wheat is up and alfalfa is sprouting. “We are fortunate to have a good market for our straw and wheat,” Hopkins said.

But not all the people attending Saturday’s sale were solely focused on farming.

Dave and Lisa Dewey of Dixon bought a spiffy green buckboard and don’t own a horse to pull it.

“It was my dad’s,” said Dave. “We bought it to keep it in the family.”

“We don’t have any horses,” said Lisa. “I just would have hated to see it go to anyone else.”

And Robert Law of Mount Carroll, an antique car collector and retired farmer, stopped by to check out all of the items for sale.

“I’m just into classic cars, but I thought I’d come down and just see what was all here,” Law said.

The Polo Lions Club with the help of Polo High School students, operated the main food booth in the center of the sale site. The covered building was a popular place for visitors to get out of the cold wind and the 40-degree temperatures and grab a hot dog, cheeseburger or pork chop sandwich and chat with friends and neighbors.

The fall sale will be Saturday, Sept. 5. For information, email slpaspolo@gmail.com, or visit Lenny Bryson Auctioneer at lennybrysonauctioneer.com or Public Auction Service on Facebook.