By Michelle Coyle, For Abington News
It’s yard sale season yet again. Out with the old and in with the new (to you) items.
Folks are spring cleaning and de-cluttering all sorts of items such as clothes, games, dishes, random stuff from junk drawers, old toys, shoes, electronics – you name it.
Kicking off yard sale season, Abington Celebrates is holding its 3rd Annual Town Wide Yard Sale on Saturday, April 12th from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. along with a few registered locations on Sunday, April 13th in an effort to raise money to keep fireworks going in Abington during Founder’s Day Weekend on June 7th.
Whether you’re an avid bargain hunter or have one of the many yard sale registered locations, Abington Celebrates is hoping for a busy, exciting weekend for all.
This year the Abington Celebrates main location will be held indoors at the First Baptist Church, 219 Adams Street. Due to the relocation of DPW equipment to the North School, the usual main location has relocated to the Adams Street parking lot of the church. Shoppers are urged to park in the Church’s North Avenue parking lot side and head on over to Adams Street side of the church.
Abington Celebrates will have lots of treasures from generous donations as well as some Abington Celebrates Hometown Puzzles wrapped and ready for a loved one’s Easter basket.
Blackbeard Estate Sales will have great finds as well as First Baptist Church and a number of yard sale registrants who have pivoted to the church classrooms due to the weekend’s rainy weather forcast.
Shoppers can choose from a variety of beautiful garden items in the “garden area” donated by Seoane’s Garden Center. The Abington Lions Club will also have their “world famous” hot dogs, hamburgers and refreshments.
In addition, Mal’s Kitchen, Sarcastic Swine, Cream have once again generously offered to donate a portion of their sales on Saturday, 4/12 to Abington Celebrates, giving shoppers a chance to stop for breakfast, lunch/dinner and dessert. No one will be shopping hungry.
“Folks will have many chances to find some really great items and those registered can make some money on their own. The sponsoring restaurants get lots of advertisement and hopefully Abington Celebrates will raise a good amount for the fireworks.” said Michele Coyle, Abington Celebrates Chairperson.
“A number of community groups have registered locations on the map such as the Abington Garden Club at Butterfly Park, Abington Music Parents, UCC Thrift Shop, both Abington Senior Housing locations setting up in their community rooms and Sarcastic Swine will also have their own yard sale tent in the back parking lot,” added Coyle.
“This is what community partnership is all about, everyone helping one another. With the large number of registrants, donated items that need to be cleared out of First Baptist, Easter Weekend, Town Elections and then Founders Day Weekend planning we decided to move forward with this event rain or shine and the community has wholeheartedly embraced it. I wish everyone great success and sales.”
Shoppers are encouraged to visit the Abington Celebrates Facebook page for the yard sale digital map, which will be available Friday, April 11th. Printed flyers with the address listings and QR code for the digital map will be available at
Abington Celebrates registered locations.
Hosting community-wide events is nothing new for Abington Celebrates. Celebrating its 10th year, the hardworking committee hosts three yearly signature weekend events: Founders Day Weekend, Oktoberfest and Christmas. The group is a 501c3 Corporation and is not supported by tax dollars, relying wholly on private fundraising and donations.
However, to prepare for the Town Wide Yard Sale, the committee looks to the expertise of fellow committee member and “Abington’s Favorite Pirate”, Mike Carini, owner of Blackbeard, Inc. to spearhead the event. Blackbeard, Inc. specializes in estate sales and rubbish removal.
“Crack open the closet, pop open the attic, burst through your clutter and donate to Abington Celebrates to make Founders Day explode with fireworks!” enthusiastically added Carini.
Whether you are hosting a yard sale this weekend or in the future, Carini offers a few tips for a successful yard sale:
–Add your own signs around town.
–Make sure you have small bills and change.
–Play music to set a happy mood.
-‘Have shopping bags on hand so folks can take treasures home easily.
–Have snacks, drinks or let kids set up a lemonade stand.
–Be prepared for negotiations. Everyone wants a bargain, so it’s in the nature of the avid yard sale enthusiast to ask for a deal.
–Consider “early birds” (those that arrive before scheduled time) as it is mostly the people that do this for a living and typically spend the most money. A majority of sales are done in the first few hours.
–Use your own best judgement, you will succeed!
It’s common that folks won’t sell everything they put out. Most of the time it ends up on the on curb or given away for free. As an added bonus for Abington Celebrates, Blackbeard has offered this year’s yard sale participants their company’s services (up to one week after the Town Wide Yard Sale) to dispose of any unwanted items/trash and donate 50% of the quoted dump fees to Abington Celebrates.
For more information, follow Abington Celebrates on Facebook or email abingtoncelebrates@gmail.com.
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