By Shannon Lukens. All photos courtesy Colorado Auctioneers Association.
Northwest Colorado was well represented at the Colorado Auctioneers Association Conference in Colorado Springs this weekend.
Graig Medvesk is this year’s Colorado State Champion Auctioneer, and he was the Rookie State Champion 12 years ago. Medvesk is a graduate of Hayden High School in 2011, and a 5th generation Routt County native, now living in Grand Junction.
“This one is for all the people on the Western Slope of Colorado. I think I’m the first champion on the Western Slope of Colorado that is able to come over here and compete against all these guys on the Front Range, Denver, guys that run sale barns and auto auctions. To be able to come here and compete and to win, it’s a big honor.”
Medvesk is the owner of The Auction Team, serving the Western Slope and eastern Utah.
Courtesy photo, from 2013
He is related to Hall of Fame auctioneer Cookie Lockhart of Steamboat Spring, by marriage. Her niece married his uncle. He says he grew up knowing about Cookie and her auctioneering legacy.
“So I grew up knowing who she was. In 2012, I attended Western College of Auctioneering in Billings, Montana. When I got out of school, I worked for several auction companies on the Western Slope, and Cookie was one of them. She helped me get my foot in the door, and she definitely helped me get acquainted with the Colorado Auctioneers Association.”
Two Moffat County FFA auctioneers also qualified for the inaugural FFA Auctioneering Career Development Event Championship this summer. They are Tate Green and Blake Tupa, who both attend Moffat County High School.