In a conversation this morning, Bobby Dix shared his excitement of placing the winning ebay bid for the iconic Century Bar Neon, that was auctioned off last Thursday. Dix shared that he was placing the bids on behalf of his boss William Jergens, who owns R.B. Jergens Construction Services in Vandalia, a family owned business that specializes in road work and power plants.
Dix, who is the Operations Manager for the company says “Jergens is a community minded business man who believes in supporting local businesses and when he heard the sign was being auctioned off to help the employees of The Century Bar he knew he wanted to help.” Dix also shares their may have been some bourbon drinking going on as these plans were being made, as the company often purchases barrels of Woodford Reserve, to bottle for customers, of course.
Dix, who’s been with the company for over 30 years, said he started bidding the final morning of the auction when the bids were in the $6000 range. He admits the plan was to buy the sign, no matter what and he did with a winning bid was $14,925, which he says may have been egged on by a little bourbon drinking.
They’ll be picking the sign up this afternoon and while they don’t have definite plans yet for what they will do with the sign, they envision using it to support other local charities, like the Pink Ribbon Girls, which Jergens is a big supporter of.
According to The Century Bar owner Diane Spitzig, the funds raised will help the employees of the bar, especially in helping to pay their health insurance premiums during the shutdown. And she’s especially thankful to the Idea Collective for donating the sign back for the to auction.
