bowling trophy

Many garage sales have music - a radio or boombox playing - but I don’t think I’ve been to a g’sale that had a dj before. Alex was spinning vinyl on a pair of Stanton turntables (covered in attractive woodgrain mactac) on a system he bought complete at a pawn shop. He’s not a professional dj but he does the occasional gig around town (he’s going to be at the Sugarbowl). Apparently he has a small but eclectic record collection. The music was mighty fine, as was the coffee from that big chrome perk. Sadly, no records for sale.

The next sale I went to - an estate sale in an old two story house - had plenty of records. Unfortunately they were of the Mrs. Mills singalong variety. Altogether I went to about half a dozen garage sales on Saturday. I didn’t buy anything but all were entertaining in their way. I also hit a few thrift stores at the end of the day. Since I know Value Village executives regularly scour my blog for marketing advice, I’ll offer this:

DON’T STACK YOUR RECORDS. It’s not good for them and it makes them very difficult to look through.

this one sucks communally

this one sucks Unitarilly

this one sucks 32 ways

Friday: Michael C’s garage sale.

Displaying restaurant china

Marlena’s garden art

shrine

That’s what McGill University professor Will Straw called garage sales on the CBC radio show Definitely Not The Opera a few weeks back. I think he was saying that g’sales function as sites where unwanted commodities are accumulated and displayed for public consumption (or something like that). He also called garage and yard sales “sites of second burial.” It seems we’re reluctant to discard our unwanted items directly - we need to distance ourselves from them first and so we relegate them to attics or basements for a time until it’s “safe” to sell or otherwise dispose of them. Interesting stuff.

In any case, I want to draw your attention to this yard sale blog I just discovered. Great name, no? I was thrilled to read this post as I’ve often thought about holding a midnight madness garage sale (though I’m a little leery about the kinds of customers that would show up).

Failure is the word to describe my garage sale adventures this weekend - I found nothing.

audiophile garage sale

Michael C. with wiener at church rummage sale

A Saturday that was forecast to be rainy turned out not bad at all.

discover

spooky yard sale

art deco school

Alice the snake (i forget the lady’s name)

For some it’s the first robin…