Yard sales often provide more than bargain items
Yard sale season is here on the West Plains. Yard sale enthusiasts hit the brakes for those colorful poster board signs at the end of a gravel road.
High-tech bargain-hunters can even download iPhone and iPad apps to track garage sales. One online yard sale sign conveyed how motivated sellers can be: “Buy my house and get all this great stuff free!” Postings such as “Moving sale, all must go!” attract frugal shoppers.
Others opt to keep it simple. “We only put up signs on the road, no advertising otherwise,” said Amber Mewhinney of Airway Heights. Mewhinney is back from college and held a yard sale to sell her high school stuff for some cash. “People just see the sign and stop,” she adds.
Bargains yes, but there’s more. Yard sales can have an unassuming way of pulling people together. Mewhinney thinks that many connections happen with neighbors through yard sales.
“There was a guy here we met four years ago,” she said. “He helped us pull our truck out of the mud. We ended up giving him the number for the guy who did our hay. He had just stopped by to say hi. When you have a yard sale, people will stop and say things they wouldn’t otherwise. Another neighbor stopped to comment on us being down to one horse.”
Peggy and Dennis Schweikhardt of Medical Lake, along with their sons, Chris and Mike, purged old belongings and put together their family sale, complete with a lemonade stand. For the Schweikhardts, getting rid of stuff is bittersweet.
“As we put out the stuff, we remember things. It’s kind of sad in a way, with special things,” Dennis said.
Their sons enjoy meeting other kids who like their old toys. Peggy adds, “We have met neighbors, a lot of really nice people. One was down the road nine miles that way, a lady who has a chicken farm. She bought something for her chickens. We got her card because she sells all-organic eggs. Another guy stopped by and said he was the one who re-built our roof 12 years ago.”
Motivations to have a yard sale vary. In spite of a hot and windy day, Bill Stephensen and his neighbors had a yard sale.
At another sale, Chris Snow remarked, “We’re just cleaning out stuff we haven’t touched in years. We’ve been here three years, but are still meeting all kinds of neighbors.”
For some, it’s a combination of clearing out the old and fundraising. Snow participated in Medical Lake’s recent community-wide yard sale. “We sold unwanted belongings along with refreshments and baked goods to raise money for Life Services,” she says.
Another nearby yard sale was held in an effort to raise money as well, to help a family member in need.
Still others face heavy life changes such as divorce, debts or health issues, and they make the decision to downsize and reorganize the way they live. Curly and Dollie Werner of Medical Lake made the difficult decision to sell their beloved home of 34 years, which they built, as well as their belongings and move to an assisted living place in town. Retired from the Air Force, Curly Werner has seen and handled a lot. But now his wife has multiple health issues following a stroke. “It makes life a challenge,” he sums up.
The Werners, married nearly 55 years, had items for sale in their garage, driveway and house, with their doors open for people to walk through. Curly had no more use for his “Swiss power tools,” as he jokingly names well-used hand tools. He gave a how-to demonstration with a weed cutter for one customer.
The Werners say they have many memories at their old place and will miss it. “The good part about living out here in the country is that people will leave you alone, but when you need them, they’re right there,” Curly said. “It’s kind of nice. It’s not that we’re anti-social, but most of the people we know out here are here so they can have their own peace and quiet. When we put our yard sale sign up, some neighbors came by and it’s the first time we’ve met them, other than waving as they go by.”
He tells a little story with a mosaic stone tile he’s selling: “I bought this in Mexico.” And of a WSU jacket: “We are diehard Washington State fans.”
Many sellers donate what they don’t sell to charity and move on to the next summer venture. For the Werners, it will be a life adjustment. After his yard sale was over, Curly gathered up leftovers and took them to the Medical Lake Outreach Program. His property was sold to a neighbor’s daughter before it was listed.
Sometimes fostering friendly connections, sometimes building bridges for life changes, old-fashioned yard sales offer more than a bargain. They have a way of making the community seem a little smaller.