Here’s an archive post originally published March 30, 2010 (if you’ve received two notifications of this, I apologize – I’m reposting it for the second time today, because I don’t think the e-mail notifications worked the first time):
The best yard sale ad I ever saw was in a Moncton newspaper many years ago…it gave the pertinent details of the sale, followed by this: “Early birds will be ignored.” My kind of vendor! There’s nothing more frustrating than arriving at a sale at the advertised start time, only to find that vultures have picked all the best meat off the bones!
I’ve been going to yard sales/house sales/flea markets/auctions since I was small…we’d get up many Saturday mornings, and head for a nearby farm auction. At one of these, my brother and I decided we’d really like to have a calf, but Dad convinced us that our mom would have a COW if he came home with one! On Sunday drives, I remember us sitting in the car as Mom looked angrily at her watch waiting for Dad to stop talking to some stranger who had something to sell (my mom caught the yard sale bug much later in life, after she started collecting and selling Sherman jewellery). In the late ’70’s, Dad started setting up his own stall at flea markets (he collected sealers and pretty much anything to do with farming, as well as books).
Forty years later, I still like calves, but don't really want one any more...
After I was married and had kids, going yard-saling was an inexpensive outing for a Saturday…we lived in Moncton and didn’t have a car then…we walked to all the sales we attended. I’d set the alarm early, pack up the kids, and off we’d go, with a carefully-planned list of sales we wanted to get to and their start times. I mostly bought books, clothes and toys then, although I would keep my eyes open for bells/wooden boxes for my mom’s collections.
We moved to Saint John in late 1997, and continued our yard-saling habit…since opening the bookstore in the summer of 2000, we also started looking for old/local books on our Saturday mornings. We go to the Sussex Flea Market every summer, where over 1000 vendors set up outside to sell everything from antlers to zinnias. I started training my middle daughter, Anna, how to “pick” old books at age 8, and today, at 15, she definitely has “the eye”…she knows what to take and what to leave behind!
I picked up this little book "Mary Queen of Scots" for 10 cents...it's listed online for $20!
I even yard-sale on vacation…I was in Belleville, Ontario for a college reunion, and went to a few sales in the east end where the beautiful old homes are. Lying on the grass, I spied a beautiful Native Canadian print that I wanted as a gift for my best friend, who is of aboriginal descent. As I leaned over to pick it up, someone with faster fingers snatched it out from under me…after shooting her a look that should have caused her to at least feel faint (it didn’t seem to have any effect), I let her have it…
I was tramping around the West Side of Saint John, when I found a gorgeous pen and ink drawing of a farmhouse – I liked it because it reminded me of my grandma’s house. The problem was that it was huge – about 2′ x 3′, and I was on foot. It was also in the most hideous frame I’d ever seen, with floral wallpaper acting as a homemade mat. I asked the woman how much it was – $8! I told myself that I would go to one more sale around the corner and then come back…if the drawing was still there, I’d buy it and call a cab to get home. I was lucky that day…I forked over the money and took my prize home. The next day, I called my friend, Amy, who has a frame shop on the West Side, Amy’s Custom Framing. We made a barter deal for a proper frame and mat – $150 worth. Amy did a beautiful job on the artwork, and I hung it over the fireplace in my living room. I’ve never been able to determine the artist’s name – I assume it’s local though.
Since moving to Hammond River a little over a year ago, yard-saling has been more difficult…I don’t have a driver’s license, and Jim doesn’t like getting up early. However, I was able to make the rounds at the Quispamsis Community Yard Sale last spring. He even started to get into it, especially after one lady started giving us stuff! I was buying a computer chair ($10) from her, and Jim had two routers ($2 each). She pointed out the “free pile,” which contained a dehumidifier and two boxes of computer network cable that Jim said were sold retail for about $1 a foot! We grabbed them! Other finds that day were an apple peeler for $3; a gooseneck pole lamp for $5; two non-stick muffin pans for $1 each; a laptop bag for $2 for my stepdaughter, Brianna; a pair of Robeez baby shoes for $5 and a nursing pillow for $4 for my unborn granddaughter; and several books. My daughters, Anna and Hope, got a High School Musical dance game. Hope even picked up a stuffed teddy bear for our dog, Jake, which he wasted no time destroying! A month or so later, we went to the Hampton Community Yard Sale, and got a good haul of books, but not much else.
"The best apple peeler ever!" according to my stepson, Devin...
Herding Cats in Hammond River 