East Williston’s first villagewide garage sale last Saturday morning was judged to be a success by many of the 80 homeowners who participated and buyers who cruised around searching for bargains.
“We’ve collected a lot over the 20 years we’ve lived here. So far, things are flying off the table. This was a great idea for them to do this,” said School Street resident Kevin Olsen.
Olsen said he and his wife Gina had gotten a late start setting up for the garage sale because of the uncertain weather on Saturday morning. But they said they had about 50 people stop by to look through the toys, books, clothing and other items they had on display in their driveway.
“So far, so good. It’s been a nice array of people, very kind,” said Orchard Street resident Jerry Cucinella. “People are looking for everything from housewares and toys to collectibles.”
East Williston residents participating in the tag sale said many of the shoppers were very focused on what they were looking to buy, asking about baseball cards and other collectibles among other things. And virtually anything they were shopping for could be found, with residents offering orderly arrays of the usual things one would expect to find at tag sales, including furniture, clothing, golf clubs, bicycles and assorted household items, decorative and utilitarian.
The village board approved the villagewide garage sale at the homes of village residents last fall after a public hearing to sample residents’ opinions about it. Local law had previously prohibited garage sales except when residents are moving and have consummated a contract to sell a house.
More than 350 people stopped by East Williston Village Hall for maps that were available starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday for tag sale shoppers who said they’d seen notices about the event in ads posted in Newsday and online on Craigslist. Most buyers came from neighboring communities, including Roslyn and Roslyn Heights, and from as far away as Syosset and Melville. Village residents were also walking through neighborhoods to browse and shop.
Concerns among village trustees about traffic the tag sale would generate seemed to dissipate along with the threat of rain as the tag sale proceeded until noon. The only traffic problems observed involved cars attempting to maneuver around Dejana Industries garbage trucks making their pick-ups on Saturday morning.
“As long as traffic is flowing well, we’re to go forward with it next year,” said village Trustee Caroline DeBenedittis, who was an enthusiastic advocate of the event and a participant on Saturday.
Village Trustee Christopher Siciliano and his wife Tara participated in the sale with a display of furniture, books and other assorted items. Early on Saturday morning, Siciliano said he has sold mostly “tchotchkes” to shoppers who “came in spurts.”
Sumter Street resident Richard Tanner said he’d seen a “steady stream of people all day” with people looking for collectibles or $1 bargains. He said he’d sold things to shoppers who said they were from Portugal, Italy and Shanghai.
“I’m a garage sale addict myself, so it’s funny to be on the other side of it,” said Tanner, who added he’d probably be out cruising for bargains somewhere else if he wasn’t selling on Saturday.
Across the street, longtime East Williston resident Barbara Seixas said “It’s been unbelievable, a lot of fun. I’ve lived here all my life and met people I’ve never met before.”
Browsing in Seixas’s driveway, village resident Mary Kasparian said the event was a “social thing” the village should do every year.
The social aspect of the garage sale day was something DeBenedittis extolled in village board discussions last fall.
“A lot of people are meeting their neighbors. This is a wonderful community event,” she said.
In a last-minute tactical move, DeBenedittis contacted the Lupus Foundation last week and arrange for that organization to send trucks through the village at 3 p.m. on Saturday to pick up unsold items as donations from residents.
