Long time readers of the blog know about Sun Valley’s annual Garage Sale Day. I grew up in Sun Valley and they’ve been having garage sale day for just about as long as I can remember. Attendance and participation flexes from year to year. I can remember years where it was nearly impossible to make your way into, out of, or through the neighborhood. It hasn’t been quite that crowded over the past few years; I’d estimate that there were somewhere between 25-30 garage sales this year.
You never know what you’re going to find on garage sale day. I can’t even remember all the cool things I’ve found throughout the years. I got my first (and only, for that matter) lava lamp on garage sale day. About five years ago I got a full-sized Captain Crunch costume — a full, professional mascot outfit! Some people use garage sale day as a day to hawk their “wares”. The lady in the picture above had assembled necklaces and earrings for kids. Morgan got some.
Sun Valley is exactly a mile all the way around; add going up and down every street and you’re looking at a 2-3 mile walk. We have experimented with different means of transportation on garage sale day. This year we started out taking turns driving dad’s golf cart (the batteries on mine are shot. I bought new batteries the night before and, unfortunately bought the wrong ones. Suck.) Above, Susan, Morgan, Mason, and cousin Griffin pose and prepare for the next ride.
I didn’t really find anything I needed this year on garage sale day. The closest I came was a blue iMac for $20, which I almost bought before Susan “gently persuaded” me not to buy it. I found one NES and one PlayStation, both filthy and neither priced (which said to me, “too much”). I found a couple of boxed computer games, but nothing worth picking up (The Sims 2). If there was a deal of the day, it was Uncle Kenny’s scooter — a battery powered scooter that he got for $2. It doesn’t run, there’s no charger, and more than one part seemed to be missing, but (A) it was $2, and (B) knowing my Uncle Kenny he probably rebuilt the motor while driving back home.
On garage sale day, however, this was as close as it got to running.
I agree the scooter (and the sight of Kenny riding with golf-cart power) was the hit of the day. Had a great day with kids, grandkids, and all the old folks together. It was a perfect day!
Neighborhood garage sales are usually a big win for kid’s toys and clothes. My wife and I saved hundreds of dollars buying the first year’s worth of baby clothes before our daughter was born. We also found a few swings for like $15. Saved tons of money! As far as retro computing and video games go, it’s usually a miss. I did find a Commodore 128 in the original box which was awesome!! That was the biggest win ever. I get excited every time there is a neighborhood garage sale for the chance of finding these treasures but it usually doesn’t happen. But you never know! You might just find something.