Despite showing up at 8:30 for a yard sale that started at 8 a.m., city resident Kim Menne and her mother Shirley Menne of Cogan Station were too late to get the items they were seeking. But there were no hard feelings to be found Friday morning.
"We enjoy going (to yard sales), it's our mother-daughter time together," Shirley Menne said. "We go every Friday morning and then we do lunch."
The Mennes were among the many area residents hunting for bargains at yard and garage sales throughout the city.
Article Photos
ASHLEY M. WISLOCK/Sun-Gazette
Customers browse merchandise at a yard sale on Westminster Drive in Loyalsock on Friday morning.
And despite all the dickering and bartering, the sagging economy seemed to be the last thing on people's minds.
"(The economy) may affect people going to sales a little bit, but people have always gone," said Andrea Zerfing, a South Williamsport resident. Zerfing was hosting a garage sale at her home on Friday, and the sale was bolstered by items from various people in the neighborhood.
City resident Marcie Klingler agreed.
"I don't know that someone who has never been to a yard sale is going to go because of the economy," she said. Klingler is a frequent yard sale shopper who was hosting her own sale Friday.
Most people said they were out shopping around for the simple thrill of finding a good deal.
"I like to get a bargain," Kim Menne said.
"You can get things that look brand new, or even are brand new, for cheap," Shirley Menne said.
Klingler said "yard saling" is something that comes naturally to keen shoppers.
"I think it's a mindset," she said. "If finding deals is something you enjoy, you'll like it."
Most yard sale hosts said they were hoping to get rid of items they don't use any more.
Joan Harstead downsized when she moved into a condominium last year in Loyalsock Township. She's been having a yard sale "on-and-off" for the past three weekends, hoping to sell things that don't have a place in her new home.
"This is mostly stuff that doesn't fit," she said. "I don't have anywhere to put it."
Individuals and families aren't the only ones getting in on the yard sale action.
Members of a Sunday school class at St. Paul Calvary United Methodist Church in the city were hosting a sale in Loyalsock as a church fundraiser.
"We have one every year," said Wanda Bieber, one of the sale organizers. "All of the money from the sale goes to 'Rally Day' at the church."
For people hoping to host their own sales in the future, many of the salespeople had advice on how to hold a successful event.
"Be neat and organized, and keep your items reasonably priced," Klingler said. "Remember that it's a yard sale."
"Start (working early) and make everything look neat and clean," Harstead said.
For shoppers hoping to find a good deal at sales throughout the summer, the Mennes had some words of wisdom.
"Plan out your day, try to organize what you're doing," Kim Menne said.
"Check the newspaper and go to (sales) that seem to offer what you want," said her mother. "You've got to go early."
