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Treasures found at Civic Center garage sale

By Charlie M. Hartman 3 min read

NEW ULM - Kid's clothing, shoes, hats, comic books, Pokémon collectables, lunch boxes, Roller blades, typewriters, a knitting machine, giant popcorn tub, five dollar box of hangers--vendors sold a huge assortment of goods at the Annual Spring Civic Center Garage Sale hosted by New Ulm's Park and Recreation.

The indoor sale took place Saturday and drew hundreds of people to the Civic Center's south arena. Parking was scarce, as the line was out the door and wrapped up the staircase before doors opened.

Lots of vendors, like John Carver were selling off things they collected over the years. He sold an assortment of antiques like old metal tobacco boxes, and beer canisters, and an old camera.

"Most of it is from just trying to clean the house out. Some of the stuff I have is from the 1930s," said Carver.

At another vendor booth on the other side of the arena, friends, Lola Simon and Mary Kay Holland, felt the same as Carver.

"I have a house full of stuff and I'm a collector," said Simon, "and Lola is still at the antique store, so she has some stuff to get rid of, too."

They had a variety of women's clothing and some vintage antique collectables.

"It started out really slow, but I'm happy now. Sales are picking up. It's a lot of work to bring all this stuff here," said Simon.

The city's annual spring and fall garage sales has been at the Civic Center since 2007. Multiple vendors come back each year, like comic book collector Paul Mallon. He has been a vendor for four years. He had thousands of comic books for sale--everything from humor, to superheroes, to mystery--all that he has been collecting since 1967.

"The sales aren't the same as say a comic convention, but sometimes I make a contact like someone who wants to sell a collection, and I'll keep coming back as long as people show up to buy," said Mallon.

Kourtney Turner and her son, Parker Turner, found a 1992 Captain America comic book from another comic book vendor at the sale, and Parker felt it was the best find of the day.

"I got a bunch of Easter eggs really cheap," Kourtney Turner said, holding up a colorful bag filled to the brim with the plastic containers.

"We come every year. My children grow a million inches every other week, so it's good to get a deal on things. Last year we found a gun rack that was ten dollars, and I only had five, but the man gave it to me anyway for five dollars anyway," Turner said.

Parker, super excited for his haul, pulled a familiar looking yellow doll out of the bag most anyone could recognize.

"And I got Bart Simpson," Parker Turner said.

Other shoppers with fully stuffed bags, families with strollers jam packed, and some like Brian Roepke and Michelle Norman even had wagons loaded up.

"We like to collect antiques. We've been doing it for years. This is just our first pass through; we're not even done yet," said Roepke.

"My favorite purchase today has to be my John Deer planter boxes," said Roepke.

"And I like my chicken," said Norman.

The next Civic Center Garage Sale for those interested, but missed their chance at the spring sale will be held sometime in September with registration for vendors opening in late July.

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