By Tom Collins
DORCHESTER — It wouldn’t be unusual to hear Jonathon Wilson fast talking to himself when he is alone.
The full-time milk truck driver has been a part-time auctioneer for eight years, and practices while driving to farms and milk processing plants.
“On a weekly basis, you’re driving down the road and you’re taking bids with every telephone pole that you pass, or every other car,” said Wilson, who hails from Dorchester in Middlesex County. “It’s a skill you can never stop improving at. It’s like any kind of talent; practice, practice, practice.”
That practice paid off as Wilson took home first place in the International Plowing Match’s annual auctioneer competition, the first time he’s ever participated in the four-year-old event. Five auctioneers were in the competition.
Wilson fell in love with auctioneering as a kid, when he would go to farm and spring auctions with his dad. “I fell in love with the auction chant,” he said, adding he would try to mimic the auctioneers and told himself that he was going to learn how to be an auctioneer one day.
Eight years ago, Wilson got his chance. He went to the Auctioneering College of Canada in Edmonton for a one-week course. Now, he participates at a dozen sales a year, helping out other auctioneers with their sales.
