Newby auctions off lunch with Faith Hill
Johnny Newby can sell.
As the co-owner of Newby Motors and RV Sales, selling would seem to be second nature. But unlike his everyday life, he spent last weekend donating his selling skills to a celebrity auction conducted by country music star Martina McBride that yielded thousands of dollars worth of celebrity merchandise for domestic violence programs.
That auction was held June 12 in Nashville during the CMA Music Festival and ended up raising about $132,000 for the YW of Middle Tennessee.
Newby sold a little less than a fourth of that amount in under five minutes.
The big-ticket item was lunch with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Newby, who has been a part-time auctioneer for about four years, ended up with auctioning honors as the guest of locals Jana Wilson Ringemann of Hometown Realty and Auction and her spouse, Amon Ringemann, who is related to the event’s main auctioneer.
“It started out at $2,500,” Newby said of initial bids for lunch. “We had eight or 10 people in and we got down to two people. Martina gets on the phone and we cut a deal – there will be airplane and concert tickets thrown in. The deal gets sweeter then,” he said.
“She turns and looks at me, and says, ‘We’ve got the airplane tickets and the VIP tickets and I’m going to double it.’ That’s when I turned around and said, ‘Ladies, I’ll leave between you two. At $15,000 apiece, you will both get a package.'”
The deal was as good as sealed as two people bought two sets of lunch with Faith Hill and Tim Graw, airplane tickets, concert tickets and VIP seats, Newby said.
“Both ladies said, ‘Yep,’ and we sold it,” he added.
They ended up being the highest bids of the day, according to a Web site about the event.
Newby said he has grown accustomed to hanging around country music stars, who he said are “just regular people,” after spending his third year at the auction, but was elated about selling so much this year.
“It’s exciting. You have to love it to want to do it. I truly love doing auctions,” he added. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever sold at any celebrity auction. It makes you feel good to do it.”