MBS Airport holds a public auction before the old terminal is torn down.
/ Mike Horne
FREELAND -- Sometimes the best way to get rid of a lot of stuff fast is to sell it at an old-fashioned auction. That was Marty Wegner's job at the MBS Airport and Sky Room surplus auction Wednesday – selling pots, poker chips, popcorn machines, everything and the kitchen sink.
There was a lot to be sold to clear the Sky Room before the old MBS Airport terminal is torn down.
“We're moving onto bigger and better things and newer, shinier, brighter things in the future," Wegner said. The new $55 million terminal was unveiled last fall with a shiny facade and state-of-the-art features. But the old terminal is home to a lot of history. The items - from the ornate to the utilitarian - are glimpses of the dozens of weddings and proms celebrated here.
“This is a real bittersweet day with the finality of it, it's actually happening," Tom Wood said. Wood and his restaurant, Sullivan's Black Forest, will continue to provide concessions at the new terminal. But all of his old restaurant equipment is on the auction block to be sold to the highest bidder in need of some banquet tables, coffee pots, chafing dishes.
"It will be no more, it will be kind of like some of the other dinosaurs in the Saginaw area, that, you know, it won't ever be available,” Wood said.
History at a bargain - 45 years sold in a matter of seconds.
A demolition date for the terminal has not yet been set.
