Arlington Park race track furniture, mementos to go up for sale in online auction

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (WLS) -- Arlington Park has nearly a century worth of precious memories for horse racing fans and former employees at the track. It closed for good last year, but now people are getting the chance to bring a piece of the track home.

Everything from the furniture - which includes hundreds of chairs, benches and tables - to the horse blankets, to the drinking glasses and virtually everything else is for sale on auction.

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"Anything with the Arlington Park logo is selling for double or triple," said Rob Kanabay, with Arlington Park.

Regina Dryden's mother Jeanie Esposito worked here for nearly 30 years as a mutual teller. She's looking at bidding on a bench to keep in her yard to honor her mother's memory.

"We spent many years here and she always tried to make us a winner. And she did sometimes," Dryden said with a laugh.

The auction company is putting all this up for sale on Wednesday. The bidding is online.

The items up for bid are going for anywhere from a few dollars to thousands. These 30-year-old benches made of Brazilian wood are selling for about $500 to $600 each now. But many fans cannot put a price on the memories.

They plan to hold these auctions weekly until the Bears close on purchase of the property, which is expected to happen in the next few months. The track's owner, Churchill Downs, is expected to bring in $1.5 to $2 million from the sale. The auction includes some iconic pieces, but not everything