The last livestock have been sold and the Utah Livestock Auction is being dismantled, but its patrons are not letting any wrecking crew take away their memories.

Brent and Mary Kelly have owned the auction for 30 years, but the last market took place Saturday, and the land will soon be occupied by an industrial development. Mary Kelly said workers at the auction have until Saturday to clean out their things, and then the new owners will be tearing down the building.

The Spanish Fork auction has been a part of residents' lives since it opened in 1955.

"They're very sad to see it's going," she said. "Utah County and Spanish Fork have kind of been the livestock center of the state for many years."

The vintage, front-row seats have held some dedicated fans, and Kelly said people have been filing in since the auction to unbolt their chair and take it home with them. There are only about 20 to 25 chairs, and all have been spoken for, soon to be heirlooms in a living room or on a front porch.

"There's people who have been coming here for 30 years and have sat in the same seat every week," Mary Kelly said.

Brent Kelly said the end of the auction is bittersweet for his family and the market's patrons. At least 200 extra attendees were at the auction, and 600 head were sold in what Kelly described as a celebration.

"I think it was a last farewell and a last look and to say they'd been at the last auction," he said.

The whole community loved to be a part of it, whether to buy livestock or just come for the entertainment. Still, with the rise of Internet livestock sales and high fuel prices, the end of the auction was becoming clear.

Mary Kelly said the auction's bread and butter was horse sales, but after Congress passed a law against slaughtering horses, they had to be sold into Canada or Mexico, and the transportation costs were not worth it. Brent Kelly said it was also only a matter of time before the industrial development would be coming in.

"It's a situation where we're sad to go, but we can see the handwriting on the wall," he said.

Kelly said the market catered to the backyard farmer, and he had no desire to try selling on the Internet. After 30 years, he said the ending is sad, but it's time to move on.

For the auction's yard manager, Mike Bartlett, his way of life may be changing as well. Bartlett works at a horse ranch during the week, but the Saturday auctions in Spanish Fork were a chance for him to be a cowboy. Bartlett said he has worked at the auction for about 16 years, and his kids grew up working there as well. His older sons and daughters worked there on-and-off, but 11-year-old Kasey has been working since he was only three.

"Everybody called him Rooster," he said. "He was the mascot of the auction. Everybody liked him."

Bartlett said the auction was a good way to make money, though he never thought about how much money he made there. He worked because he loved the work, and he said finding a job just for the money now will be something his family is not accustomed to. He may sell horses at other auctions in the state now, but Bartlett said he doesn't know if he will be able to work at an auction again.

Only six other auctions remain in the state -- in Cedar City, Richfield, Salina, Roosevelt, Ogden and Smithfield, and Bartlett said travel costs would negate any money he would make working at an auction. Most auctions are also during the week, and "Rooster" would not be able to work with his father.

Bartlett said his son has felt the impact of the auction's departure, crying through much of the weekend. It was even hard for his mother to get Rooster to go to school Friday.

"It's been tough on him," Bartlett said. "It's been tough on me, too. I'm kind of lost and don't know what's going to happen."

With the operation being dismantled for the remainder of the week, Kelly said workers are gathering up what can be sold, and a last yard sale will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at the auction site, 5906 S. 650 West in Spanish Fork, to sell off gates and panels and various odds and ends.