JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - After more than four decades the Ichthus Christian Music Festival has come to an end.

And now the festival's equipment and other memorabilia is going up for auction to the highest bidder.

"In order to avoid filing for bankruptcy, we wanted to see if we could raise money another way to pay off our debts," said Attorney Mike Nichols, and former Ichthus board member.

Interested buyers are being directed to www.ichthus.org the festivals former site. "We need to people to understand we are going out of business," Nichols explained. "It's obviously not what we wanted, but we have to face reality here."

Nichols, a Lexington attorney, is donating his time to help the festival find ways to raise funds in order to pay off a debt that ultimately shut the 43-year-old festival down.

"Of course we'd love to have someone come in and buy the entire package and launch a new and improved Ichthus festival," he said. "But we can't count on that, as much as we hope that will be the outcome.

Buyers can bid on the Ichthus domain name or the "Contacts List" that includes the Ichthus festival mailing list (with approximately 42,000 names), and the email list (with almost 25,500 names) and the text list with about 6,800 names and cell phone numbers).

But Nichols says, they won't just sell that information to anyone. "We certainly have the discretion to try to make sure that things are moving in a positive direction and not going into hands that are improper," Nichols explained.

He says when it comes to the "Contacts List" they are seeking people with a similar mission of ministry and message as Ichthus.

Part of the online auction ends on the 28th of this month, the remainder will close in early February.