Common Folk in the ‘Boat Podcast guest Cookie Lockhart

Donkey dicks, drug money auctioneering, a 5-year-old on horseback, and Yampa River tubing. I mean, this episode of Common Folk in the ‘Boat podcast covers it all. Introducing a fiery new episode with none other than Cookie Lockhart, Hall of Fame auctioneer and unofficial historian of Steamboat Springs.

Podcast Excerpt…

Eli: So Cookie, what would you say is the strangest thing that you’ve had the pleasure to sell at auction?

Cookie: Well, I don’t know how to say it. It’s a little embarrassing. For lack of a better phrase, it was a donkey’s “thing-a-madoo.” You see, they took a donkey’s thingy and made a cane out of it. The guys were holding it up and I’m up there selling it. Finally I asked, “what is that?” At the time I figured it was some kind of wood. Everybody in the audience seemed to already know except me, so we had a good laugh about it afterwards.

Eli: I’d be curious to know what a donkey’s thing-a-madoo sells for, but that’s for another time. How about your most interesting auction experience. Can you speak to that?

Cookie: I once sold an entire guest ranch and all of its contents. I was hired by a kid, 22 years old, and the ranch was Black Mountain Guest Ranch up the road in McCoy, right smack between Vail and Steamboat. These guys… well let’s put it this way. I was in a Board meeting two days before the auction and somebody came in and placed the Denver Post in front of me. The headline read “Ranch Dubbed as Drug Hub of the Ski Areas.” To which they asked “don’t you have an auction there?” Well, I just panicked. My first thought was to call the DEA but I figured they already know about it, ha.

Turns out that what had happened was they were bringing in the drugs in from Miami to McCoy, Colorado. At one point, after dropping off the drugs to their 22-year-old son in McCoy the plane crashed into a mountain. Sad but true, and oh what a story to tell!