One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Or, one man's wheelbarrow is another man's sled.

A crowd of about 100 gathered at 1918 Olive St. on Saturday for the city's annual surplus auction. It was here that Troy Sheets bid on a broken, green wheelbarrow. "Cheaper than a sled," Mr. Sheets said.

Steve Hofferber, director of property maintenance for the city, explained the purpose behind the event.

"We bought the building (on Olive Street) at a sheriff's sale in July," he said. All the contents in the building still belonged to the previous owner, so they worked out an arrangement, resulting in Saturday's auction.

The previous owner would receive one-third of the profit, while the city would get to keep two-thirds. He said he believes the city will benefit more from the auction than if it had just held another sheriff's sale.

Steve and Sandy Schott decided to check out Saturday's bidding because a friend called and informed them about it. The couple said they saw a lot of interesting items.

"We just hope everybody else didn't see the same thing," Mr. Schott said, with a laugh.

Stephen McCollum bid on a car console for $24, among a few other miscellaneous items. He said he attends auctions often.

"I do every weekend, especially if they have car parts," he said.

He added that his wife dropped him off at Saturday's auction, but since she brought the minivan, this would put a limit on the number of items he could fit in the car; he had to be careful not to overdue it.

Residents could find seat belts, a stop sign from a school bus (which was sold for $2), spark plugs, arm rests, door handles, extension cords, oxygen tanks and even old, dilapidated cars.

In the lot across the street, people could sift through a trailer full of military surplus items, including helmets, duffle bags, ammunition cartridges, shovels, boots, cases of old equipment, airplane seats, kitchen utensils and an Electron Tube Test set.

"Most of that came from the city and to beef up the auction," Mr. Hofferber noted.

Even kids were amused by the items on display.

Josh Bloothoofd, Brock McMichael and Derek Cockriel had fun trying on helmets and gas masks. Josh took particular interest in the gas mask, while Brock was intrigued by the bullet shells. The three said they have an interest in military supplies.

"We had a war last night (with Airsoft guns)," Derek said.

Mr. Sheets was pleased with items offered Saturday. He did not go home empty-handed.

"I bought $200 worth of fencing for $4," he said. "In this economy, everybody oughta be here."