Fuse to Finale: The NFA Podcast
From the first spark of an idea to the last shell shot, this show will deep dive into the work, chaos, and creativity that make the NFA expo an unforgettable experience. Whether it’s the inner workings of the fireworks industry, the planning of large-scale events, or the stories of the people who make it all happen, Fuse to Finale pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to deliver the NFA Expo. Because while everyone sees the finale, nobody notices the fuse.
Fuse to Finale: The NFA Podcast
Big Bids
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Get ready to bid big! This episode of Fuse to Finale gives you an inside look at the NFA Auction, what makes it a must-attend Expo event, and how every winning bid supports the association.
Welcome back to Fews to Finale, the podcast where we pull back the curtain on everything that goes into the National Fireworks Association, from the first bark of an idea to the last shell of shot in the sky. To many attendees, it's an afternoon of incredible items, friendly competitions, and a lot of laughs. But behind every bit is something much bigger. Our auction helps support the work of the NFA throughout the entire year, from our advocacy and our education to preserving and strengthening the future of our industry. Joining us today is the person who keeps the energy high and the bids moving fast, our auctioneer extraordinaire Tom Wilson. We will talk about what makes a great auction, share a few behind-the-scenes stories, highlight some of this year's can't-miss items, and explain how every paddle raised helped support our mission. I want to give a huge thank you to our Platinum sponsor, who is also our auction sponsor, Wisely Pyrotechnics. Thank you so much. Be sure to look out for the Pyro Donkey paddles this year to use during our auction. Thank you, Wisely. So whether you're a seasoned bidder looking for your next big win for the year, or you're someone who's never participated before, this episode will get you excited for our auction on Thursday afternoon at our expo. So grab your bidding paddle or at least start warming up your arm and let's light the fuse.
SPEAKER_00My name is Tom Wilson. I have been the auctioneer for I'm not sure how many years. I enjoy the lottery of the NFA and talking to everybody, enjoy the awesome items that everybody donates every year. People get creative.
SPEAKER_02So how long have you been doing the auction? And how did you how did you become how how are you put into that role?
SPEAKER_00Well, one year I was asked to help with the auction. Then I get there, and the person who was supposed to do it said, You know this stuff better than I do, you just do the auction. And after that year, it seemed like we had probably one of the better years for the auction. They wanted me back the next year, and so I've been doing it ever since.
SPEAKER_02So, what is what is your favorite part of the auction? Like, what do you enjoy most about it?
SPEAKER_00Um, well, I enjoy seeing everybody come out. I enjoy um well, as an auctioneer, one of one of my jobs is to get two people bidding against each other. And uh, you know, usually that's getting to know people and uh um knowing what they like so that you can kind of say, well, I know this is something up your alley. Or I I just enjoy seeing people come out for it. I see I enjoy the fact that people are willing to pay more than they know an item's worth just because they know it's going to help the NFA. All the proceeds go 100% to help support the NFA. Um NFA does so much to help keep our fireworks industry legal and safe. Um so the money goes to help whatever whatever new obstacle that comes on our horizon, the the board is always looking to help keep all of our American industries going. Um we have somebody who uh lobbies for us in Washington. So all this costs money and it doesn't come free. And so all this all this really helps the NFA be able to do what needs to be done when somebody is somebody in a state trying to make a state illegal, then the NFA wants to step in and help to try to what they can do to lobby to help keep our fireworks legal, but also keep them safe.
SPEAKER_02It's definitely an important piece of the NFA, and it's I think one of the most fun pieces. I know that people always look forward to the auction. Um, you know, it helps it helps raise funds for the organization, but then you know, there's the energy of of the bidding wars that happen, the energy of the crowd. Um, and I think that I think that people really enjoy it and really look forward to it. Um, I know that that's one thing that people tend to stick around for is the auction. We we shut the trade show down, we shut down all the seminars, and we encourage everybody to grab a plate for lunch and come in and and become come ready to bid. Let's say it's my first time at the auction, my first time at NFA, I've never been before. What what do I what is there to expect? What do I need to know coming in? How does it work? Um, what's the process like leading up to and then during the auction?
SPEAKER_00Well, one of the first things I want to get going early in the week is obviously the silent auction. Uh we can we figured out we can do about 70 items max in the live auction. So that's identifying what items are going to do the best in the live auction, and then the other items going into silent auction, which help us just as much as the live auction. Um, what I enjoy the most is what creativity do people come up with for items to put in the auction? And you know, creativity is is however your mind works. Um we have everything from homemade quilts to antique fireworks to um cool gifts from China. Um you know, we've had these cool Chinese scrolls that have done really well. We've had you know homemade items like somebody makes a clock, you know, that's patriotic, or um somebody goes and buys their favorite wine from their favorite winery. Um there's some of us wine lovers, I'm one of those, um, that might bid on a wine basket because I want to try wine from an area I've never got to go. Um we have bourbon baskets, so those always go pretty high. I've got a couple people who bid against each other on those. Um they always do quite well. Um, you know, the rare finding the rarest bourbon you can find and putting it in a basket with a few, you know, patriotic items, um everything to branded items, you know, like Black Cat or Brothers and Great Grizzly and Um Winda. I've had all kinds, I've had lots of cool items from fireworks companies that are that are branded and logoed that's something that maybe the customer wouldn't normally be able to get, but it's something cool they had made before they brought, you know, cane. So those are kind of items. So the sky's the limit as far as what what will sell. There's so many things, um, you know, that might be just your area, and people are excited that well, I don't get to Louisiana, or I don't get to Pennsylvania, or I don't get to Oregon, or you know, yeah. There's so I I'm just throwing those things that pop in my head, you know, something that is local to you might excite somebody else because well, they never they're not gonna have they might not ever get there and have the opportunity to try something from that area. Sometimes it's fun to watch two people bidding against each other, one saying, don't let him have it, I'm not letting her have it.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Um that's always fun when I can get two people that are they're they're pretty much, and sometimes they're best friends and they're looking at each other, really?
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. You're bidding against me? What is the most memorable? Do you have one, the most memorable bit bidding more that we've had? I mean, does one stick out over the others?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, some of the best bidding wars is all is almost always over the uh lanyards and the bags and and all of that. But uh probably one of the most memorable for me is because it was something I donated. I made a piece of history and I'd put it together, and I was sitting there in the back of my mind thinking, I hope this goes for a thousand dollars. And I made two of them, but I didn't let anybody know I made two of them. I left one under the table, and two guys got in a bidding war against each other, not wanting the other one to have it, and it went for $5,000. And then the memorable point was when I looked at the reserve bidder and said, if I have another one, would you take it for the same price? And the look on his, he's when he said yes, and the look on his face when I pulled the second one out from under the table was worth it.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think that's one thing too, is that like you do have surprise items. Like not everything that we have, whether it's whether it's something that maybe we got last minute, maybe it's something that you don't want people to know that we have, or it's something that we have a duplicate of that you're like, okay, like I'm gonna keep this up my sleeve. And then if it goes for a lot, then we can say, okay, like let's let's do another one, right? So we do have some surprise items that people may not know until they get there and attend that we have, which is why it's important that, you know, yes, you can come and just watch, but you should probably have a paddle too, just in case, because you may not know everything that we have available.
SPEAKER_00The more time goes on, the more I kind of know where to start. And that that's not a hundred percent, but you know, try to get a starting point. And then, you know, I'll have at least two or three callers in the audience because I can't see everybody to call out to call out bids. And you know, it's once once you get the bid rolling, that's that's the hardest part. Once I get people bidding, then it usually rolls pretty fast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00There's the occasional item that I think's gonna do well and it doesn't do as well as I thought. There's the item that blows me away. Last year I was blown away when a quilt donated by my boss's mom went for 3200 bucks. You know, you just never know. I never know what I never I never know what item is going to just really excite people um and really have uh, you know, you just don't know.
SPEAKER_02Let's talk about what kind of items we're wanting in the auction. So we take donations, right? We have we have people ship stuff to you, ship stuff to us, ships or bring stuff on site. So we're gonna we're gonna be making a call out soon about hey, we would love to have your auction items. Um, so so what kind of stuff are we looking for here?
SPEAKER_00Some of the craziest things, you know, and and I I think about this one year I went by, you know, I I try to go buy boost, you know, for people who haven't donated, and I say, hey, got anything for the auction? I don't really have anything, you know. And one of the funniest things, you know, always strikes me is sometimes I'll say, throw a basket together of all your goodies and I'll put it in the auction, and they'll be blown away that it it goes for 50 bucks stuff they were given away on their table.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00So when you think about what what you know what works best, you know, every year I'm surprised by what what what's given. Um the same year that we auctioned off that piece of history that I made, um I walked by a table and I asked a guy, he had these dummy 40-inch shells. I said, Hey, would you donate one of those? He was selling them there in his booth. And I said, Would you donate one of those to the auction? Well, he comes and interprets and he agrees to donate one. And you know, so that 40-inch shell brought quite a bit of money, and that was another one of those items where I looked at him and I said, Well, if I can get the reserve bidder to buy one, would you give me a second one? And they did. Um, you know, don't think your gift is too little or um anything. You know, I have lots of homemade items, you know, patriotic stuff. Um, anything patriotic goes really well.
SPEAKER_02Um well, especially with this year being the 250th, I think that I think that patriotic stuff like that is probably gonna go really well really well this year, yeah, because it's a big, it's a big kind of commemorative thing. Yeah, there was a diamond necklace that was really pretty. Um and and that one I think went for quite a bit of money as well. Um have so collectibles, memorabilia, that kind of stuff. Um, stuff that really like tugs at your nostalgic heartstrings, right? Um, but then what about like equipment or trips and experiences?
SPEAKER_00What kind of like usually Cobra donates some ignite systems, they usually do pretty well. Um, so yeah, equipment. Um we have Great Lake mortar racks and um uh gosh, I want to say Pyroboom. Usually don't racks and they usually do pretty well. Um, you know, racks to shoot your mortars out of. They always tend to go pretty high. And you know, our vendors are that's that's another thing. I just want to say thank you to all the vendors because the vendors are very uh gracious in donating things. Um Jake's Fireworks donates a uh trip usually every year to one of their uh hunting places. So when it comes to donations, creativity is your limit.
SPEAKER_02What would you say it was?
SPEAKER_00Uh to me, probably one of the craziest items. I would have never dreamed I'd have been auctioning off a diamond necklace.
SPEAKER_02But it was so pretty, too. Like it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_00And it was it was made, it was patriotic. I I mean the diamond necklace was something I would have never dreamed would have been donated.
SPEAKER_02How can we pay once we're once we're there?
SPEAKER_00Well, cash, debit card, credit card. Um, I don't know. Do we take checks?
SPEAKER_02We take checks. We um started accepting Zell payments like mobile payments last year. So basically any kind of you know, any kind of currency we we take. Is there anything this year that we know we're gonna have that you're like this? You want to be prepared to bid on this. Do we have anything that we can share?
SPEAKER_00I know we have a couple of surprises, but well, I've got a couple that I need to verify before I would say that. Um, but I can tell you one of them, all the guys will be wanting to bid on it if we if if it actually happens. I'm telling you that there's a possibility. Yeah, and it's there. Yeah, you guys better be ready. You better have your checkbooks ready.
SPEAKER_02Every year we set a goal internally, right? Like we don't know what it is until we get there and we see everything, but we always try and we always try and push a little bit past what we did in years past. So we're gonna be going into this year, we're going to have an idea of a number. Um, is there gonna be any incentive? Like, I don't, I know we I don't think we've really even talked about this, but is there is there any kind of incentive? Like if we hit this number, say I will say this.
SPEAKER_00If we break last year's number, which I didn't think we'd break the year before, um I will be happy to take a pie in the face.
SPEAKER_02Okay, we have it on the record. All right, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00The generous donations is what makes the NFA, you know, keep thriving and keep being able to help us. Um as far as vendors, you know, whatever you can donate, don't feel like your gift is too small. Um, every every penny helps the NFA move forward in helping our industry. And I know everybody on the board, their their goal is to keep fireworks legal, keep fireworks safe, and that's what we all want. We all want everybody to enjoy it, you know. It's kind of a crazy to me, it's kind of a crazy time because you have all these competitors coming together under one roof, and we all get along. Yes, we may be competitors, but guess what? We can still be friends. We come together, we get to see cool new fireworks, new, we get to watch the demos, we get to talk to people we haven't seen in a long time, get to talk about, hey, you know, what worked for you, what worked, you know, and then you know, what worked for us, and you know, that's just a camaraderie that we share because we have we all have the same goal. At the end of the day, we all want to sell fireworks, we all want people to be happy, and at the end of the day, we want fireworks to be you know family safe and friendly. Going twice.
SPEAKER_02So thank you to Tom Wilson for sharing stories, sharing his expertise strategy, and giving us some exciting things to look forward to for our auction. We can't wait to see everybody in the auction room on Thursday afternoon of our expo, where the energy is so contagious, the competition is friendly, and every bid makes a difference. If you're planning to attend our expo, now is the time to start thinking about what you might want to bid on. And if you're interested in donating an item, there is an opportunity to continue to help make this year's auction one of our best yet. Every donated item, every bid, and every winning paddle helps support the National Fireworks Association and our mission to advocate for our industry, educate our members, and create an expo that continues to bring the fireworks community together year after year. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Fuse to Finale wherever you listen to your podcast. And remember, everyone notices the finale. Now you're starting to see the fuse.