Sales in the sun: Moses Lake cleans house
MOSES LAKE — Around 60 yard sales sprang up across Moses Lake this weekend, which could be some sort of record.
One social media outlet tallied 37 in Mae Valley and 22 in Pelican Point between Friday and Saturday, but the true number is anyone’s guess.
Cheryl Vaillancourt and Cassidy Williams of Fairway Drive and Brandy Tucker and Sandra Allred of Mae Valley Road were going to have one about this time anyway, they said. The weather’s nice; it’s a good time of year for it.
It was when Stacy Bishop of Road 1.4 Northeast posted on a social media group that a bunch of people jumped on.
“They picked the date and I figured that this must be the weekend I should do it,” Williams said.
When Bishop made the initial social media post, she couldn’t believe the response, she said.
“I couldn’t be more surprised, and it’s on the same day as Pelican Point,” she said. “Those guys are pros. They’ve been doing it for years. We don’t even know what we’re doing out here.”
COVID-19 was probably an additional factor in the high turnout, Williams said.
“This is when we can actually have garage sales this summer and interact with people, so it’s probably a bunch of people saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been looking at this stuff in my house for so long and I really did not use it, don’t want it, don’t want to look at it anymore,’” she said.
Williams, with a 5-month-old upstairs, had tables of baby clothes on display. She’s been helping other moms prepare their yard sales, as well, she said.
She’s noticed a bit of a baby boom, and that likely contributed to the yard sale boom as well, she said.
Bishop’s motive had little to do with those factors, she said. She wanted to get people out to her neighbor Megan Baum’s property, Otaku Farms.
“She’s my favorite neighbor, and I always want to help her in any way I can,” Bishop said.
Farmers help farmers, she said, and it’s important to foster that community. Also, kids love coming by and seeing Baum’s Boer goats, sheep, pigs and chickens, she said.
“This is why we do this, to bring people to the goats,” she said. “We don’t really care about a yard sale, but also we really wanted to lighten our loads. It’s time.”
The sale was a huge success, Tucker said. They’ve been out for two weekends in a row and every day has had a lot of traffic.
If it’s not scorching, Bishop might organize something similar next month, she said.
“Even if we don’t do another yard sale, we’ll probably do something else,” she said. “I don’t know. I don’t know what it would be, I’m just always thinking up things. I figure summer’s only so long and that’s our time to get people out.”
Sam Fletcher can be reached via email at sfletcher@columbiabasinherald.com.
