Fairfield chamber hosts Treasure Hunt Weekend

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a fun, new event that featured garage sales and local businesses participating in a “Treasure Hunt Weekend.”

The event was Friday and Saturday, and included 21 businesses and 15 garage sales. Many of them got into the theme by dressing as pirates, wearing eye patches, and carrying toy swords. Chamber Executive Director Mendy McAdams was in full pirate regalia as she walked from business to business. She estimates that she walked about five miles as she visited with customers and business owners.

“I ran into people from five different counties,” she said. “Everybody had lots of fun. It was nice to bring back citywide garage sales, and we plan to make this an annual event, so watch for it again next year.”

McAdams said she planned to award about $200 in chamber bucks Monday to people who posted to social media photographs of themselves in a participating location and included the hashtag “#fairfieldtreasurehuntweekend.”

McAdams said this was Fairfield’s first citywide garage sale since the arrival of the COVID pandemic. She said the chamber is planning more events like this, especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when it will have a special event every Friday encouraging residents to shop locally.

McAdams said her office had received so many phone calls from residents eager for citywide garage sales. She’s glad the chamber decided to take it on once again.

“Lots of retailers said they had a significant increase in foot traffic over those two days,” McAdams said.

Kara Waugh, owner of Adela’s, said Friday morning that her store was very busy. She placed some items on tables outside her store, which helped draw attention to the sales.

“We do a porch sale every year,” she said. “It’s fun to do something outside.”

A group of four friends from Mt. Pleasant heard about the sale and decided to make the trip to Fairfield. One of them, Pam Tipton, said she comes to Adela’s every year for its porch specials, and encouraged three friends to join her for the journey, Marilyn Ridinger, Linda Lyon and Nancy Foster. They said they had a good time browsing through the store.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com