Kristen Waggener / kwaggener@miconews.comTammy Ojanguren of Baldwin City and Michelle Scarlett of Louisburg look for clothes for Ojanguren’s grandson Saturday morning at a garage sale in the Park Meadows subdivision.
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Bargain hunters find bonanza waiting for them in community's garages
By: Doug Carder and Kristen Waggener, Staff Writers
Ask Felix who had the best garage sale in town Saturday, and he would have pointed his tail at Kim Brown's house in The Lake subdivision.
The curious cat, who Brown admitted had used up seven of his nine lives, paced up and down the cool cement garage floor as he helped shoppers pick out clothes for their toddlers.
Coordinating the sale with her daughter Aimee Hamilton, Brown said early Saturday that sales had been brisk since the pair opened the garage door for business a mere 36 hours before.
“The pile was three times as high on Thursday,” said Brown, pointing to the rows of clothes neatly arranged by size and gender on long tables. A family could walk in, outfit their youngster and be on their way in just a few minutes. “We have five kids in the family that are 8 years old and younger, so we have a lot of kids' clothes.”
Brown, who has participated in the citywide garage sale for five of the last six years, recognizes many of her repeat customers.
“I didn't have a sale last year, and one woman came by and cried. She said I had been outfitting her children for the past few years,” Brown reflected, as she ran her fingers down the spine of her black-and-white family cat.
Mary Bauercamper examined a pile of girls' clothing while her husband, Scott, held their baby daughter Emma against his shoulder.
“We're out looking for clothes for our one-year-old,” Scott said. “It's a great day to be out. It looks like the sales were going well in our neighborhood in Starbrooke, too.”
An estimated 150 families across Louisburg were filling their garages, driveways and yards with everything including the kitchen sink last weekend as the community garage sale hit its stride Saturday morning.
Kathy Jones clutched a Mickey Mouse purse, purchased from Brown's sale, as she walked across the street to a white pickup that was piled high in the back with a white patio set and other items. She and her daughter, Cheryl Miller, were pleased with their purchases.
“We've had a great time. The truck's already full,” Jones said about 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
The two Osawatomie women are regulars at the citywide sale. “We love coming over here every year.”
Down the street, Caroline Langner pocketed $25 from a man who wanted to buy the entertainment center leaning in her gently sloping yard.
“Everything I've sat out in the yard is selling fast,” Langner said from inside her garage. She turned and handed the cash to her sister-in-law, Donna McCullough, of Overland Park. “A guy just bought your entertainment center.”
McCullough let out a “hooray.”
Langner turned back toward the yard. “We're consolidating three households here (into one sale). I wasn't planning to start until this weekend, but I made the mistake of opening my garage door Thursday evening, and all these people started showing up.”
Langner said she couldn't sleep the night before, so she got up at 4 a.m. to start setting out items.
Mike and Dianna Swinehart were two of those people who filled their conversion van with bargain finds more than once over the weekend.
“We're garage sale fanatics,” Mike Swinehart said as he walked up the Langner's driveway to a silver toolbox.
He opened and closed each drawer methodically before looking over the contents of nearby boxes.
“I try to find old, antique clocks,” he said, mentioning he's a clock collector.
The treasure of the weekend, however, wasn't a clock. Instead, it was a toss-up between a lawn mower motor he purchased for $75 or a zoom lens for a Cannon camera he purchased for $2.
“We looked on eBay and it's worth about $100,” Swinehart said.
At Park Meadows, Denyse Rizzo started arranging clothes, toys and other knickknacks in the garage and driveway in the early morning gray light too. She's glad she did.
Just a few hours after Rizzo opened her family's garage sale, Michelle Scarlett of Louisburg and friend Tammy Ojanguren of Baldwin City arrived, looking for bargains on clothes for Scarlett's nephew and Ojanguren's grandson.
“He's 7 weeks old, and he's already wearing 3 to 6-month clothes,” Ojanguren said.
The two sorted through camouflaged baby jumpers, blue jeans and white onesies before settling on a few pieces to purchase from the Rizzos.
“We had people here at 6:45 this morning,” Rizzo said. “It was amazing.”
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The curious cat, who Brown admitted had used up seven of his nine lives, paced up and down the cool cement garage floor as he helped shoppers pick out clothes for their toddlers.
Coordinating the sale with her daughter Aimee Hamilton, Brown said early Saturday that sales had been brisk since the pair opened the garage door for business a mere 36 hours before.
“The pile was three times as high on Thursday,” said Brown, pointing to the rows of clothes neatly arranged by size and gender on long tables. A family could walk in, outfit their youngster and be on their way in just a few minutes. “We have five kids in the family that are 8 years old and younger, so we have a lot of kids' clothes.”
Brown, who has participated in the citywide garage sale for five of the last six years, recognizes many of her repeat customers.
“I didn't have a sale last year, and one woman came by and cried. She said I had been outfitting her children for the past few years,” Brown reflected, as she ran her fingers down the spine of her black-and-white family cat.
Mary Bauercamper examined a pile of girls' clothing while her husband, Scott, held their baby daughter Emma against his shoulder.
“We're out looking for clothes for our one-year-old,” Scott said. “It's a great day to be out. It looks like the sales were going well in our neighborhood in Starbrooke, too.”
An estimated 150 families across Louisburg were filling their garages, driveways and yards with everything including the kitchen sink last weekend as the community garage sale hit its stride Saturday morning.
Kathy Jones clutched a Mickey Mouse purse, purchased from Brown's sale, as she walked across the street to a white pickup that was piled high in the back with a white patio set and other items. She and her daughter, Cheryl Miller, were pleased with their purchases.
“We've had a great time. The truck's already full,” Jones said about 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
The two Osawatomie women are regulars at the citywide sale. “We love coming over here every year.”
Down the street, Caroline Langner pocketed $25 from a man who wanted to buy the entertainment center leaning in her gently sloping yard.
“Everything I've sat out in the yard is selling fast,” Langner said from inside her garage. She turned and handed the cash to her sister-in-law, Donna McCullough, of Overland Park. “A guy just bought your entertainment center.”
McCullough let out a “hooray.”
Langner turned back toward the yard. “We're consolidating three households here (into one sale). I wasn't planning to start until this weekend, but I made the mistake of opening my garage door Thursday evening, and all these people started showing up.”
Langner said she couldn't sleep the night before, so she got up at 4 a.m. to start setting out items.
Mike and Dianna Swinehart were two of those people who filled their conversion van with bargain finds more than once over the weekend.
“We're garage sale fanatics,” Mike Swinehart said as he walked up the Langner's driveway to a silver toolbox.
He opened and closed each drawer methodically before looking over the contents of nearby boxes.
“I try to find old, antique clocks,” he said, mentioning he's a clock collector.
The treasure of the weekend, however, wasn't a clock. Instead, it was a toss-up between a lawn mower motor he purchased for $75 or a zoom lens for a Cannon camera he purchased for $2.
“We looked on eBay and it's worth about $100,” Swinehart said.
At Park Meadows, Denyse Rizzo started arranging clothes, toys and other knickknacks in the garage and driveway in the early morning gray light too. She's glad she did.
Just a few hours after Rizzo opened her family's garage sale, Michelle Scarlett of Louisburg and friend Tammy Ojanguren of Baldwin City arrived, looking for bargains on clothes for Scarlett's nephew and Ojanguren's grandson.
“He's 7 weeks old, and he's already wearing 3 to 6-month clothes,” Ojanguren said.
The two sorted through camouflaged baby jumpers, blue jeans and white onesies before settling on a few pieces to purchase from the Rizzos.
“We had people here at 6:45 this morning,” Rizzo said. “It was amazing.”