Fall City-Wide Garage Sale tomorrow

Washington will host a citywide garage sale this weekend that will feature 43 vendors across town. All vendors are open Saturday and many of them are open today. A few were even open Thursday night. A map of the garage sales was printed on page 7 of Thursday?s edition of The Journal.

Washington Evening Journal Advertising Director Julie Scott said she advertises the garage sales two weeks to a month in advance so that local bargain-shoppers can prepare for it.

?People know that September is the time to sell their stuff,? Scott said. ?Anything and everything that you need you can find at a garage sale this weekend. There are clothes, furniture, holiday décor and even a Winnebago.?

Friday morning began with substantially more humidity than the vendors and customers would have liked. A light drizzle fell on the area for much of the morning, requiring vendors to search for plastic tarp to cover their valuables.

Mary Ann Minick was among those to offer a two-day garage sale, Friday and Saturday. All of her merchandise was outside. Because of the weather, she had to cover much of it with tarps.

Minick said all of the merchandise on display belongs to her son.

?He?s got a brand new office chair in the box, which has never been opened,? Minick said. ?We?ve got books, puzzles, baseball cards, writing toys and a snowblower. The snowblower is a big ticket item, as are the kids? chairs and the picnic table. And I?d like the cabinets to go away, too.?

Minick had placed under a tarp items such as books, wrestling shoes, piggy banks, golfing sandals and VHS tapes.

Minick said it?s the first garage sale she has had in a long time. She said she spent Thursday evening setting up.

?It was an absolute big job,? she said. ?This is my son?s stuff and I?m trying to help him get rid of some things. It will be worth it if we can get rid of anything. I don?t think I?ll have another one for myself because it?s so much work. If you don?t sell it, you?ve got to pack it back up or take it to Goodwill. It?s an awful lot of work.?

Minick said that during any garage sale she has ever had, Friday was the day she received a lot of visitors.

?Friday was always the big day, even first thing in the morning,? she said. ?We haven?t had a big rush but a steady stream of people.?

Minick was an antique dealer for many years, showing her wares at antique shows and in malls. She said it is harder to sell antiques now than in the past, and not just in the store but also at garage sales.

?Things have changed at garage sales,? she said. ?People are more cautious with their money. They?re not going to buy it if it?s not a good deal.?

Minick had several antiques on display Friday that she had once given to her son but that he had recently returned because he no longer had room for them.

Beth Moravec and her mother Kay Gates went garage sale shopping Friday morning. By 10 a.m. they had already visited six garage sales, and they were not about to stop there.

?There is no moss growing on these legs,? Moravec said.

Moravec said she wasn?t looking for anything in particular, just a good deal.

Gates said she once held garage sales of her own but that was many years ago.

?I enjoyed it when I did it but I?d rather go to them than host them,? she said. ?When we became grandparents, we picked up toys for our kids to play with at our house. When my grandchildren were younger, I bought clothes for them at garage sales. Now that they?re older, they have their own specific styles that grandma doesn?t know.?