Ruffin cancels Wichita Greyhound Park auction

WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - Bad news for people excited about the Wichita Greyhound Park auction. It’s been canceled. It was supposed to start Wednesday.

Auctioneers Bud Palmer and his grandson Jadyn were excited when they got a call last month for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"We're up here at the Greyhound Park today, and well, it's going up for auction," Jadyn StVrain said Wednesday.

Owner Phil Ruffin decided to sell everything inside the old dog racing track, and they wanted it all gone.

It was a trip down memory lane for Palmer, reminiscing on the times he'd been there himself.

"You would come up here to get hamburgers, coke, fries, anything," said Palmer.

Everything inside was just how workers left it when it closed in 2007.

"I don't know what the price was, let's go look! Chicken strip 95 cents," he said.

Friday, we spoke with Phil Ruffin Jr., he says his dad was in town, took a look around and simply changed his mind about selling the stuff.

While he was excited about the auction, Palmer knows it was nothing personal. He actually went to high school with Phil Ruffin Sr., and has done lots of business with him in the past.

Ruffin's team said they'll gladly pay Palmer for all the work they put in getting ready for the auction. But for the hundreds of people hoping to snag a piece of memorabilia, it's not going to happen.