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Bellingham Senior Center to Take Place September 10th

By David Dunbar

Whether you collect old dolls, cat figurines, vintage telephones, or postcards from the 1920s, visit enough yard sales and you’re bound to strike gold.  Plus, you get to enjoy the thrill of the hunt, which is a large part of the fun for most of us.

And there’s a fun one coming up at the Bellingham Senior Center, 40 Blackstone Street, on September 10th when the doors open at 9 a.m. Admission is free, and the event runs until 3 p.m.

“Our storage shed is full of fun items,” says Eva Gamache, who runs the yard sale for the Bellingham Elder Service Group (BESG). “Helping the Senior Center is our biggest objective,” adds BESG President Bill Eltzroth. The BESG is the fundraising arm of the Center.

And that’s where the proceeds go from the annual yard sale.  “We started five years ago,” reports Eltzroth, “and we sold about $250 worth of stuff. Last year, it was more than $600.”

Items include bikes/tricycles, suitcases, household goods, electronics (still in their original boxes), games, toys, and more. ”They’re priced from 25-cents to $10, and we have hundreds of items,” says Gamache.

“I come to the sale, because I find little treasures and very interesting things,” comments long-time yard sale attendee Yvonne Bartlett. “I found a baby blanket one time that was perfect for my great granddaughter. You’ll be missing something great if you don’t come!”  

Collecting “stuff” for the annual yard sale is a year-round project. “We always accept donations,” explains Gamache. If you have something you would like to donate now, it will be accepted as late as the date (September 10) of this year’s sale. Bring it/them to the Senior Center at 40 Blackstone Street in Bellingham. What they cannot accept is furniture, clothing, shoes, or things that should be thrown out.

More than a dozen volunteers help to organize and run the yard sale. Gamache is hoping for “hundreds” of attendees. This year’s event will be held indoors and outdoors at the Senior Center. So, rain or shine, it is on.

In one seven-day period recently, the website www.garagesalefinder.com reported 61 garage, yard, and estate sales in Massachusetts.  The “World’s Longest Yard Sale” – at 690 miles long stretching from Alabama to Michigan – ran for a week early last month.  It’s actually hundreds of little sales in hundreds of front yards.

Back in Bellingham, “It’s a great feeling,” says BESG board member Gail Milgram, “seeing people come in and shop and find just what they need.”

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