MAQUOKETA, Iowa -- "Make a deal, I want 'em gone," said Laurie Marx, talking on a cell phone.
Standing at a gate on the Jackson County Fairgrounds Saturday, Marx was gathering entrance fees for an exotic bird and small animal swap while coordinating -- sometimes via phone -- the sales of her own animals.
The event was a forum for sales of animals and other "country-related" items, where attendees and vendors paid the same $3 entrance fee. It was organized by Marx, of Bryant, and a few other members of the Eastern Iowa Bird Breeders.
"We're doing real good," said Marx, who said she hadn't kept an attendance count but noted traffic had been steady throughout the morning.
The fairgrounds plot was filled by rows of about 30 vendors with animal cages, mostly filled with farm animals, and the air was full with the buzz of clucking chickens and yelping puppies.
Trish Dusil said she sold most of the 75 chickens she had brought by mid-morning, while Tim Clark said he had sold four birds from his small cage of parakeets, cockatiels
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"Oh, they're in love," he said, as one of the adult male birds vied for the attention of a female who appeared far too busy to notice him. Clark blamed the pair for increasing his flock beyond what he could care for -- and as the reason he brought some birds to sell Saturday.
Marx said the event was a first in the area and organizers settled on the fairgrounds as an easily accessible location for a variety of people.
"It's nice and open and kind of centrally located," she said.
Chuck Holdgrafer also helped organize the event. A member of the Eastern Iowa Bird Breeders, Holdgrafer has gone to animal swaps for more than 20 years and bemoaned the lack of something similar in the Maquoketa area.
"I kept wondering, 'how come we've got to drive two hours to every swap?'" Holdgrafer said.
He said the idea is to keep expenses minimal.
Holdgrafer noted that he sold a baby chick for 35 cents and a stick of gum to one attendee.
As vendors began packing up at the end of the morning, Chris Davis, of Galena, Ill., and her granddaughter walked the rows looking for ducks. Although they hadn't made any hard and fast decisions, 5-year-old Lorelei Walker said she had seen some ducks that she liked.
"I like the chirpy sound," she said, jumping as she skipped off to some nearby cages.
To Tom Tyree, however, the event just seemed like a "yard sale for animals."
"There's every different kind of quality and quantity," said Tyree, of Maquoketa.
