The yard sale idea came out of a need to get rid of “too much stuff.” A few residents of McCauley thought it would be great if several people had yard sales on the same day. Several announcements were put in the BMC News and a few people said they were interested. We finally tried it out on August 28, 29, and 30. At first there were only two of us, and we were both on 110 Avenue. Then others joined in who were located on 108 Avenue or on 93 Street. Several others expressed interest but said they didn’t have time to get organized.

Kim Loewen put an ad on Kijiji and I put an ad in the Edmonton Journal. She had mostly kids’ clothes and toys, plus scrapbooking materials, and her children sold lemonade and ice cream bars. Kim said, “My yard sale went well. I did it three days, Friday to Sunday. It was definitely worth all the effort. I got rid of a bunch of stuff, and made decent sales. I met lots of other people in the neighbourhood and surrounding areas. I also made lots of other connections with other scrapbookers/cardmakers as I had a lot of scrapbook/craft stuff. I also advertised some upcoming scrapbook, card, home decor, and halloween classes at it. The kids didn’t sell much lemonade or ice cream at all, maybe five of each, so that wasn’t a success. I agree better signs and more people nearby doing yard sales would help.”

I had six tables of mostly household stuff: several sets of china, glasses, serving dishes, some bags, and hand-made pottery. My granddaughter offered coffee, but nobody wanted any. We only had our yard sale for two days on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We had maybe 70 or 80 people in total come by to browse over the two days, and we made some sales, but lots of stuff is left. The people on 93 Street and 108 Avenue had furniture and various items, and they were discouraged because not many people came to their houses at all.

So, what did we learn? Kim and I both thought it would be good if more people along our avenue had yard sales on the same day, and that we need better signage from the main roads. It is hard to cover a number of locations in the same ads, but we tried. I think that playing lively music would help people to realize something interesting is happening on their block, but my CD player didn’t work.

We may try this again next summer. We will pick a date and advertise it a long time in advance, so everyone knows and they can all prepare. We will get better signs made. Please join in if you want to, or get the people on your street or avenue organized to have yard sales on the same day. We still think it is a good idea.

Joanne McNeal is a McCauley senior and former art teacher who still has lots of artsy stuff to sell.