The Coon Ridge Auction Company started selling items from the Jim Stafford Theatre around 9 a.m. Monday.
Everything inside the theatre was up for auction from lighting to safety equipment.
“Wagon loads of electronics, guitars… just miscellaneous theatre items,” said Diane Clevenger, owner of Coon Ridge Auction Co.
There were also tons of personal items of Jim Stafford that were sold to the highest bidder including his stage clothes, guitars, and even signed memorabilia.
Many local theatre owners were at the auction today to buy their own piece of Branson theatre history including The Majestic’s Jonathan Edwards. Edwards said that today was bittersweet.
“It’s kind of a sad deal to see it go because it is one of the nicer theatres that we have here in town, but it’s a sign of the times and all of that,” said Edwards. “Jim was such a standard here in town for so long that it is kind of a passing. You know, we had the grand palace go, now Jim Stafford goes. We had the Baldknobber theatre go. So it’s a little bit different, and kind of a sad day but hey with this means new opportunities for new things coming to town.”
The auction company said that the theatre will be demolished sometime in the next sixty days. So if you purchased an item online, you’ll need to pick it up as soon as possible.
A video feature on the auction can be found on the Ozarks First Website
(Story by Jacob Blount and Christina Randall, Ozarks First)