BIG BLUE

Another downtown garage sale comes to Warren

By BRIAN FERRY
Dozens of vendors, hundreds of shoppers, thousands of items. One big, blue garage.

The Big Blue Garage Sale returns to downtown Warren on Saturday.

The event will be held rain or shine from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the lowest level of the garage. Parking is available on the second level, Main Street Manager Chris Cheronis said.

This Saturday’s event will mark the opening of the third year of the twice-annual sales.

The event is held each spring and again in the fall.

There were 32 vendors at last fall’s Big Blue Garage Sale. “We want to keep adding to them,” Cheronis said.

Although she said the event grows every year, with the fall versions being somewhat bigger than their spring counterparts, Cheronis said there is still vendor space available for the event.

Vendors who participated last year and anyone who would like to set up shop for the event are asked to contact Main Street at 723-1360 by Thursday. “We need them to touch base with Main Street,” Cheronis said. Having set up a booth last year does not automatically put a vendor on this year’s list.

The sale has several advantages over traditional yard and garage sales, Cheronis said.

There is a roof over both the shopping and parking areas.

There are a large number of vendors in a small area. That means shoppers are more likely to find what they want.

“It goes from your basic ‘next door neighbor garage sale’ items to antique items, collectibles and children’s items,” Cheronis said. “There really is something for everyone.”

Past sale items have included homemade scooters that sold like hotcakes to officer furniture to homemade pies. “It’s really a bizarre mixture,” she said. “You just never know.”

To walk through and browse every table would take at least an hour, she said.

Because there are many vendors, there will be many shoppers. That means the vendors’ wares will get lots of exposure.

“You’re guaranteed to get that draw,” Cheronis said.

Shoppers can easily walk into town for lunch or more shopping, Cheronis said.

“You can make a day of it — shop around downtown, eat lunch, most of our stores are open until 2 p.m.,” she said. “They can enjoy the shopping downtown and this unique Big Blue experience.”

That means the event is good for the downtown businesses.

The Big Blue is also good for local charitable organizations. For those vendors who don’t want to pack up and take unsold items home, “local charities will take it away,” Cheronis said.

In other ways, the event is very much like a regular garage sale.

“It’s very relaxed, very laid-back, very social,” Cheronis said. “It’s a neat atmosphere.”

Cheronis knows that the golden rule among garage sale bargain hunters is ‘the early bird gets the worm,’ but asks “that shoppers do not come before 8 a.m.”

Vendors may set up starting at 6:30.

Those who can’t make it for the garage sale will get several more chances this summer, Cheronis said.

“We have many opportunities for any type of vendor,” she said. “We need vendors for Ribfest, the Buskers Festival and the Old-Fashioned 4th of July Community Picnic.”