Liberty Lake Leftovers Help Charities
The seventh annual Liberty Lake Yard Sale brought parallel parking and traffic jams to the normally quiet suburban cul-de-sacs Saturday.
Crowds elbowed their way to the tables of 105 sales scattered through the Liberty Lake neighborhood. Organizers don’t know how many people came to rummage, but said that more than 2,000 fliers were picked up from Albertson’`s Saturday.
A half hour after the sales started, it looked like nothing would be left by noon.
But the Liberty Lake leftovers will keep on selling. At the end of the day, two one-ton stepvans full of donated rummage brought in $800 for the nonprofit group The Arc of Spokane, an advocacy, employment and support group for people with developmental disabilities.
The leftover rummage collected by The Arc - which included everything from a set of Buzz Lightyear pillows to a stairmaster to an inflatable swimming pool - was sold to Value Village at Sprague and McDonald. The thrift store will put the items back on the market.
“It’s so organized. Everything you don’t sell can be put to use in another spot,” said Debbie Himebaugh.
She and her husband, David Himebaugh, who live on East Broadway, declared everything half price for the last hour of the sale. An old exercise bike, a box of children’s clothes, wallpaper and a red 101 Dalmatians lunch box were still left at the end of the day. All were loaded into the white Arc truck.
Gina Gresch, who lives on North Homestead Drive, teamed together with her mother, sister and two sisters-in-law for the sale. Nearly everything sold, Gresch said. What didn’t sell, they gave to Arc or will try to get rid of at a sale later this summer.
She donated a mattress, curtain rods, an old computer and some silk flowers to Arc.
“That’s the best thing is having that Arc truck come around. It’s always nice to help other people out and to get that stuff out of your house.”
Seeing what people donate is one of Jeff Arnold’s favorite parts of doing collections for Arc.
“There’s some stuff that people give away to us that are antiques,” the 29-year-old said.
Arnold had a list of 20 homeowners in Liberty Lake who had agreed to donate unsold items to charity. Another Arc truck went to 20 other homes.
As Arnold’s van started making its rounds at 3:30 p.m., the sellers looked exhausted, but pleased. Most reported that they raked in several hundred dollars at their sales.
They didn’t seem to have trouble parting with the leftovers. Arnold loaded a pink and orange suitcase, the board game Mystic Skull: The Game of Voodoo, computers, toaster ovens and bicycles into the step-van.
By 5:30 p.m., the truck was full from floor to ceiling, front to back and headed to Value Village.