It seems that 8 a.m. wasn’t early enough for some people who were looking to score a bargain.
“People started coming by at 5:30 to 6,” Crystal Goldsworthy told ThoroldToday. "I had set my alarm to 5:55 [a.m.] to get ready.”
Goldsworthy’s family was one of 55 taking part in the 12th annual Community Garage Sale in Port Robinson and Cooks Mills on Saturday. Of those 12 years, the Goldworthys had been involved in eight of them.
“It’s been really busy,” she said. “We’ve had about 200 people [come by] so far.”
Among those customers were Rachel and Tim Scott who stopped by the Goldsworthy’s South Street North home.
“We’re here with a big group of friends,” Rachel said. “We love it.”
“It’s always great to see what people are getting rid of,” Tim added.
Bryan Bradley has participated in the sale for the past few years. Like Goldsworthy, he was impressed by the number of people coming out for the event.
“It’s been really busy,” he said. “It kind of goes in waves.”
Jennifer Adkins, meanwhile, took advantage of a short break from people stopping by to straighten out a table full of gently worn jeans. Her family was taking part in the sale for the very first time.
“We have a lot of people looking for vintage stuff,” Adkins said. “A lot of people are looking for video games.”
The Adkins family decided to take part in the Community Garage Sale, to help pare down a growing pile of clothing they no longer needed for their children.
“We had accumulated a lot of kids’ stuff. They’ve grown out of it,” she said.
And while bargain hunters hopped from house to house looking for deals, the Darlene Ryan Community Centre decided to piggyback onto the event and feed shoppers to raise some funds for centre improvements at the same time.
“We do nine events a year [at the centre],” board chair Marty Wilson told ThoroldToday. “We average 16 or 17 rentals a month.”
The idea to join forces with the sale came about after visitors to the sale kept wanting to come in and use the centre’s washroom.
“We had an event going on,” Wilson said.
So instead, the group now closes the centre the day of the sale and hosts a barbecue.
And the funds raised are already being put to good use, Wilson said.
“We’ve done a number of things already,” she said. “We’ve put in a new floor [and] we’ve put in a new ceiling.”
Other improvements include new signage on the building’s exterior and new tables, Wilson said.
