MILL CREEK — They’re back!
Tables with castoff doodads, lightly used clothes and toys for cheap are a bright spot in the pandemic apocalypse marked by inflation and supply shortages.
A new season of salin’ is underway, rain or shine.
After two years of COVID challenges and cancellations, early indications are that people will shop like it’s 2019 — and with 2019 prices.
“I’ve been to a few sales already this year and I think everyone is still in the mindset that, ‘Hey, this a garage sale and we’re going to purge what we have and you guys are going to get a deal out of it,’” said William Frankhouser, organizer of the All Marysville Garage Sale.
The citywide Mill Creek Community Association garage sale was Saturday, and you might find a few yards setting up shop today. Not to worry. There are plenty of sales to keep your trunk filled through summer.
Saturday is the 34th annual Great Mukilteo Garage Sale, a draw for bargain hunters from near and afar. The West Seattle Garage Sale is also Saturday, with over 320 sales signed up for its “welcome back” to make up for the past two years.
Arlington’s Gleneagle community sales will be held May 20 to 22.
The annual Richmond Beach Community Garage Sale is May 21. Maps with addresses and descriptions of items will be online and at Richmond Beach Coffee Company, 1442 NW Richmond Beach Road.
Other cities also host sales bonanzas where shoppers can hit numerous yards in one swoop.
For residents, it’s a matter of putting out tables with items not needed and wanted — then loading up at the neighbor’s house. The castoffs always look better on the other side of the driveway.
It’s also a way to reconnect with others during the last two years of social distancing.
The city of Marysville’s Junk in the Trunk is July 9 at Marysville Municipal Courthouse Parking Lot. Vendors pay $30 for two parking lot spaces to sell from their trunk and a table. Food trucks add to the festivity.
Another bargain trove is Everett’s Northwest Neighborhood Association’s Mother of All Garage Sales, on Aug. 6 in the area around Drew Nielsen Neighborhood Park. People can park in one spot and walk to numerous sales.
For those really into yard sales and willing to go the distance, the 127 Yard Sale, billed as The World’s Longest Yard, on Highway 127 spans 690 miles and six states: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. The annual event is Aug. 4 to 7. You can order a 127 Yard Sale T-shirt online for $19.95, or wait and try to score a used one for 50 cents in someone’s yard.
For shoppers, it’s about “enjoying the hunt,” Frankhouser said.
He started the annual All Marysville Garage Sale through a Facebook group in 2017. “My wife loves garage sales,” he said.
The Marysville sale, which includes Tulalip, is Aug. 19 to 21, with online maps.
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
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