The #DanforthEast Garage Sale Is Back–Saturday June 13th 2015 – Rain or Shine!
Volunteer-extraodinaire, Bruce Cooper, 37, explains everything you need to know about the best garage sale in the city. But first, we thought we’d let you get to know the person behind the event we love so much.
How long have you lived in the ‘hood?
We moved in 6 years ago because we like what the area had and the potential.
How did you get involved with DECA?
I started coming out about three years ago to start the garage sale.
What was the inspiration behind the Sale?
When I grew up in Ottawa every year there was the Great Garage Sale. It is a huge annual that the whole city comes in to attend. Lawns are filled with stuff for sale, the streets are clogged with neighbours out and about. The neighbourhood where it happens reminds me a lot of DECA with a very active community group. It was a perfect match.
Advice for anyone with an idea for a community event?
Get started because if you don’t it won’t happen. We were hoping for a small event with 30 or 40 sales and let it grow organically. We were really surprised how big it got with over 120 sales. It is also important to reach out to the DECA board. There is a lot of experience and help available.
Now, everything you need to know, from signing up online to getting your stuff hauled away, in Bruce’s words:
It is a great annual event if you want to clear out the basement, find some great deals, meet your neighbours and get in some sustainable retail therapy. When we started the even two years ago we were hoping to get 60 garage sales but were blown away when we got nearly 120. Last year we had over 160 from Greenwood in the west all the way to Dawes in the East. This year we are hoping for a bigger and better sale all across the neighbourhood.
This year we’ve made it even easier to sign up–just head to our website here.
You can even list what you are selling. If you have anything unique or any collectibles, be sure to let the collectors and bargain hunters know about it. On the day of sale I know it may be tempting to beat the crowds when you see that someone two streets over is selling a collection of rare VHS tapes but please respect your neighbours and don’t knock on doors before they set up. It is a Saturday after all and some of us can be a bit cranky before our first cup (pot?) of coffee.
The most successful sales are the ones where the whole street gets involved. The last two years both Coleridge in the north and the streets surrounding East Lynn Park both had full street sales. So why not talk to your neighbours and ask them to get involved. Street sales also get a special highlight on our famous map.
The map will be posted map the day before on the blog and this year we will also post a jpg of the map to the DECA Twitter the night before so everyone can find where the best deals are on their phones. Make sure you sign up in time to get on the map.
Volunteers are always welcome. We are going to be putting up flyers this week and we could use a couple of people to help taping them up along the Danforth, pinning them up on the community message boards or putting them up in local businesses. Email me at deca.yard.sale@gmail.com
We could also use some help with promotions. We would appreciate any Twitter or Facebook posts that you are taking part or better yet discuss it with your friends in the area and neighbours. The more sales we have the more people will come out, the more we will sell and the cleaner our basements will be afterwards.
See you on the 13th and cross your fingers for a third sunny year in a row!
