Yard sale attended by thousands

Parking was scarce, but the bargains were plentiful Saturday at the 12th annual Liberty Lake Community Yard Sale.

You name it – household or recreational, antique or brand new, slightly odd or terribly common – the item could likely be found at one of the more than 260 homes that participated in the huge one-day event.

Thousands of shoppers converged on 18 Liberty Lake communities Saturday, many of them earlier than the 8 a.m. start time, prepared to find a good deal and haul it away in their sport utility vehicle, pickup truck or the trunk of their car.

Spokane residents Natalya Plaksin, 20, and her husband, Russ, 21, heard about the community yard sale Friday and arrived about 7:30 a.m. Saturday to hunt for a specific item. By 11:30 a.m. they had filled their Chrysler minivan.

“We got what we wanted,” and then some, Natalya Plaksin said. The couple were looking for a bookshelf. They also bought a toy chest, a small bicycle and a little sled.

If they had been interested, the couple could have also bought a piano for $100, a 1966 Triumph TR4 for $8,000, a 28-foot Road Ranger camper for $11,000 or a Chevy pickup’s tailgate for $10.

The odder items were just a sample of what Liberty Lake residents had to offer. The participants in Saturday’s sale said they save their unwanted items all year in anticipation of the event.

“We hold off having a sale because we know the traffic will be here,” Brenda Heitzman said, who lives in the Garden Ridge community. After 2½ hours, she had already seen hundreds of people come through her garage.

Residents pay a $10 entry fee to be included on a map that’s distributed through area stores and gas stations. Last year, 5,000 maps were passed out. Money collected pays for advertising, Fourth of July fireworks and other community projects.

The residents who participate get to keep the proceeds from their sales, and what doesn’t sell is often donated to charity. One participant said she rakes in about $400 each year, but it depends on the items offered for sale.

It’s a win-win event for all involved, said Carolyn Woodmansee, an organizer of the event.

Frank Allman, 62, didn’t know about Liberty Lake’s event until he called one of his friends Saturday morning.

“I saw something I thought he might want at a garage sale” in Spokane, Allman said. “He told me he was in Liberty Lake, and it was great.”

Allman arrived about 10:30 a.m. to check it out.

“I came out looking for a wood planer and bought a wood joiner,” Allman said. “I wish I would have known about this sooner. If you don’t get to garage sales in the first hour, the good stuff is usually gone.”

But the Spokane resident’s timing didn’t stop him from cruising around to other neighborhoods to see if there was a bargain others might have missed. Allman considers himself a bit of a professional garage saler. “I furnished my whole office with garage sale finds,” the print company business owner said. “No use paying full price for anything anymore.”

Thousands of other shoppers apparently agreed. The small streets were crammed with cars, trucks, minivans and even campers. The periodic rain wasn’t enough to slow their desire to find that hidden treasure amongst other people’s junk.

Stephanie Kuhn, 26, has been a regular at the community yard sale for five years.

“I come to buy next year’s clothes for my girls,” the Spokane homemaker said. Kuhn also scored finds on a camp stove and some board games.

But not everyone had a positive experience at the Liberty Lake Community Yard Sale.

Ann Hettwer, a retired Post Falls resident, said her visit to the event cost her – but not in the way she expected.

When she returned to her car parked on Country Vista Drive, along with about 20 other cars, she found a $38 ticket from police for parking in a designated no-parking area – a bike lane.

“I never would have parked there if the other cars hadn’t been there,” she said. “And I didn’t even find any good deals at the sale.”

If she had driven into The Cottages community, she could have at least picked up an inexpensive snack from Café O’Dea.

Mackenzie O’Dea, 8, had snacks and drinks for sale including cheese crackers with peanut butter, popcorn, Capri Sun juice, doughnuts and Rice Krispies. Most items were 50 cents.

Dana O’Dea, her mom, said Café O’Dea was her daughter’s idea, and it was a good way for her to learn about business transactions. After Mackenzie pays her suppliers, mom and dad, and her “employee,” 5-year-old Katie O’Dea, she gets to keep the profits.

When asked what she liked most about her small business operation, a somewhat shameful grin came over Mackenzie’s face, but she answered honestly: “the money.”