People clean out homes for community garage sale

Behind tables at Saturday's Fall Garage Sale were a few antique dealers and some people who make crafts items. But most of the vendors were on a different mission.

"My goal was to get rid of stuff," said Claire Watson.

The sale is one of four sponsored annually by the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department. The fall sale is so popular that all 70 exhibitor spaces sold out 30 minutes after registration began. A second session scheduled from 4-8 p.m. also sold out.

Helping people "get rid of stuff" was the reason the garage sale was started, says Amy Roth, who runs the sale for the city. It appears to be a popular pursuit. Roth and the Parks and Rec staff take about 100 phone calls a month seeking information about upcoming garage sales.

Many say the garage sale itself is one of the best bargains anywhere. Renting four tables costs $10.95. All the vendors have to do is bring their goods in and price them. The city advertises the event.

About 150 customers were waiting outside when the doors opened at 8 a.m. The four tables Jim and Teri Buckenmyer and their son Jacob had piled high at the beginning of the sale were almost empty two hours later. The Cape Girardeau family had a good location on the center aisle near the door, but offering children's toys and low prices is the key, they said. Their most expensive item was an $8 rocking horse.

Children's toys and clothing always sell well, garage sale veterans say.

Shonda Burnett's daughter, Carleigh, caught her leaving home with some of her toys and clothes Saturday morning. "I said, 'We're either going to sell them or give them to someone who needs them,'" Burnett recounted. That satisfied Carleigh.

Burnett made $90 quickly but became bored once the initial rush of customers disappeared.

A lot of work

Watson also reluctantly admitted that her first garage sale was a bit more subdued than she expected. "It's a lot of work," Watson says. "Now that I'm here, it's boring."

She has a master's degree in psychology and works for the Community Counseling Center. One of her tables bore a box filled with books that revealed something about her life. One book was about divorced fathers -- she used to work in an adolescent prenatal clinic -- and another was a vegetarian cookbook -- she used to "sort of" be a vegetarian.

Eight months pregnant, she also was ridding herself of books about sexuality, Freud and one titled "Men: An Owner's Manual."

"That's graduate school stuff," she insisted.

The desire to make room in their house brought Mark and Amy Powell of Jackson to their fourth garage sale at the community center. They sold a VCR for $10 but couldn't interest anyone in a $30 rattan chair that cost much more when they bought it at Pier 1.

Adult clothing is the hardest item to sell, they said, but Amy was not concerned.

"What we don't sell we take to Good Will," she said.

She never goes to garage sales as a customer herself. "I'm trying to get rid of stuff," Amy said. "I don't want other people's stuff."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182