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Capitol Hill Garage Sale Day 2010

We’re still, um, organizing but let it be know that the plan for the third annual Capitol Hill Community Garage Sale Day is taking shape. This year’s big day — when neighbors hold yard and parking strip sales across the Hill and others gather in the People’s Parking Lot at Belmont and Pine in our community sale space — is Saturday, June 5th.

Here’s how it works:

  • People register (free! to add your sale to map, $20 for a community space) and add their info to the list
  • We add each sale to a Google map
  • We promote, market, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the whole shabang
  • Random bands, vegan taco vendors, etc. show up
  • And it’s sunny as hell, guaranteed!

Here’s some of what it looked like last year.

REGISTER HERE http://capitolhillgaragesale.com

A big change for 2010 is requiring a $20 fee for our spaces in the community lot. Pulling the Garage Sale Day together is a grassroots, bootstrap effort but we do have costs including insurance to provide the community space in the People’s Parking Lot. Money collected will go to cover insurance and promotion costs for the event — including the few hundred we are short from 2009 when we didn’t charge! We’re also making a sponsorship available for any local business that would like to cover all or part of everyone’s fee. Drop us a line at [email protected] if you are interested in helping to support the event.

One more note of interest. We’re grateful the owners of the land we call the People’s Parking Lot have been open to hosting the Garage Sale Day community space. We’re working to make the same arrangement with Pine & Belmont, LLC again this year. But the lot is also real estate — and for sale. If things change, we have some back-up community spaces in mind. You’ll likely hear it here first.

Questions or ideas? Let us know in the comments.

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jseattle
jseattle
14 years ago

Forgot to mention that People’s Parking Lot will also be hosting an Earth Day gathering
http://peoplesparkinglot.blogspot.com/2010/03/capitol-hill-g

Consider it a CH Garage Sale Day warm-up.

Andrew Taylor
14 years ago

Electoral success rate for candidates attending the Garage Sale is impressive, so far.

Performance as elected official not guaranteed.

Mike with curls
Mike with curls
14 years ago

How do you lose money at a yard sale?
Should be impossible – you sell the junk – good junk sells – trash does not.

At the end of the day, you count the dollar bills, coins – voila, money.

The Sisters do a big sale every year at the old church on Bwy. – in the basement – they put 2,000.00 – 3,000.00 into their coffers for their programs.

In theory, that is the way it always works – for decades and hundreds, thousands of sales.

keith
keith
14 years ago

hey mike,

the loss last year was the price we paid for the insurance that was required by the owners. it cost almost $500 and we collected something like $200 in cash donations. now that ppl is a member of shunpike, we can get a year-long insurance policy for about that same amount, and can spread it out over all events we host in that space: earth day, garage sale, hopefully park(ing) day again this year, and maybe more…

Mike with curls
Mike with curls
14 years ago

… the insurance thing is bit yuppie/anal.

What can happen at a junk sale that creates liability?

But … in this case, a cost of using the space.

I will donate some stuff to bring in some money, good junk.

Finish Tag
Finish Tag
14 years ago

Is this lot really for sale? Why is not on the Commercial MLS? What’s happening?

keith
keith
14 years ago

info comes from an email with one of the principals at murray franklyn. when i was getting permission for the earth day event, i asked about doing the garage sale in june. he said, “we have several people right now interested in the property but nothing solid yet.” i bet they’d sell it for a little off the $6 M they paid for it…lots of architects are out of work and might donate design services; i can do structural design for free…

Coffee Forever
Coffee Forever
13 years ago

You all need to find some poor people to run the yard sale … really.

No profit … not OK.

And for some this is a party site? You do special events here but not at the wonderful Cal Anderson Park … In the daytime, big fun at the fu++king parking lot?

The Hill has tamed way down it seems.

keith
keith
13 years ago

not sure where you get the idea that anyone organizing this event is profiting. since i got involved with this space i’m probably down $500 that i never had to begin with (unemployed but with a credit card).

cal anderson is wonderful indeed, but that’s not the point. the point is, this space is symbolic, it’s an eyesore that many people pass daily, and bringing activity to it puts a smile on *most* people’s faces.

and sure, if you want to get rowdy in this space, go right ahead, i’ll even help you get the word out as best i can. i’d love to see a group take it over but we all seem to be too busy and/or well-behaved. the guerilla dance party organizers did just that at pride last year, and i agree with the stranger writer’s assertion that ‘it was glorious.’ the events we organize here are just meant to a be a bit different, a place for everyone to hang out.