Something for everyone
Indoor garage sale welcomed by vendors, customers alike
Beth Watson poses at her Hawaiian themed table. Watson was selling several items during the indoor garage sale, but her Hawaiian themed decorations were the most eye catching.
Raelyn, Skylar and Kamryn Grev found their favorite new outfits during the indoor garage sales held at the Civic Center. The cow and unicorn costumes were purchased for them by their aunt.
Beth Watson poses at her Hawaiian themed table. Watson was selling several items during the indoor garage sale, but her Hawaiian themed decorations were the most eye catching.
Raelyn, Skylar and Kamryn Grev found their favorite new outfits during the indoor garage sales held at the Civic Center. The cow and unicorn costumes were purchased for them by their aunt.
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NEW ULM -- The spring Indoor garage sale returned to the New Ulm Civic Center Saturday with a strong turnout.
Every spring and fall, the Civic Center hosts a massive garage sale. Instead of using their own garages, families and individuals are able to rent a table and set it up inside the Civic Center. Typically, around 40 vendors attend with hundreds of shoppers searching for deals. The Civic Center parking lot was filled to capacity Saturday within the first 30 minutes.
The South and North arena was used for garage sales. One of the first tables visitors saw when entering the South Arena was run by Kathy Van Roekel. She had eight tables of items for sale. Van Roekel said she retired two years ago and decided it was time to clean out her home. The indoor garage sale was the perfect opportunity to declutter. She was also selling baby clothes sent by her son.
Children's items are typically the most abundant sale items. Since children are always growing, parents and grandparents are always shopping for new items. Parents also need to sell the items that no longer fit. This can include costumes.
The Grev children, Skylar, Raelyn and Kamryn were eye-catching in their animal costumes. Raelyn and Kamryn found new cow costumes while Skylar fit into a unicorn costume. The Grev family found the costumes at the Wilson family's table. Their mother Alisa Greve said Skylar loves unicorns and Raelyn loves cows so it was a perfect fit. Their aunt Karla Deutschmann actually purchased the costumes for them. Deutschmann later said the costumes were so cute, she would have bought the outfits even if their mother would not approve.
Beth Watson had a Hawaiian-themed table. Everything a person could need for decorating a luau was for sale. Watson said many of her items were left over from a Hawaiian-themed graduation party.
Watson said she tries to rent a table at the indoor garage sale every year to sell items she no longer needs, but the COVID pandemic made that impossible.
"I've saved up three years' worth of stuff from the pandemic," Watson said.
This was a common theme of this year's sale. Many of the vendors were returning for the first time after the pandemic with more items than ever before.
Scott Gilsrud of Redwood Falls once again set up shop selling old vinyl records and comic books. During the 2019 spring sale, he said vinyl records were making a comeback and this remained true four years later.
He said the albums from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s sold the best. The reason is many of the people who were young in those decades did not have a chance to buy vinyl records. The switch to cassettes and later CDs had already started. Gilsrud said people in the 50s now have a chance to get the records they wanted in their youth.
Many shoppers were hunting for special collectibles. Dave Weldy was hunting the tables for an old token; especially the old ones given out at bars for drink discounts. Weldy was successful, finding an old 2-cent off token at an antique table. Decades ago, this token provided a small discount to a bar customer, but today it was worth $5.
Antique items were selling fast. In the North Arena, Jerry and Chubby Carlson were having a strong sales day, moving several antiques. Chubby said the antique garden art was selling really fast.
The Carlson said this was their first time attending the indoor garage sales after three years. They were happy to return. The group indoor garage sale offered a better return than going alone. Chubby said by selling at the Civic Center they did not need to pay for an advertisement and they did not need to get their own garage ready. For the price of renting a table, it was a real bargin.
This spring's indoor sale was especially appreciated because of the weather. The warm weather early in the week vanished, with cold wind and rain falling Saturday morning. All the vendors were happy to have an indoor location to sell.