Question of the Week: You Stop for Yard Sales?
By Tom Peterson
It’s the thrill of the hunt that led to our question of the week in this edition of Question of the Week. CCCNews took the streets to find if people are cuckoo for cash deals as yard sales, garage sales, and estate sales, are hitting a fevered pitch.
Guess what, not only do people enjoy them, some have based a whole career on their finds.
Check out what locals had to say here.
Melissa Soto, 34, The Dalles
“I just moved here from Snowden,” she said, “And we recently hit a yard sale and found a nice bookshelf. But it scratched the car. It was my husband’s fault. He took the blame for that.”
Cameron, it’s all good. Sometimes you need a little scar to remember the good times.
“I love to find stuff at estate sales and yard sales,” she added. “We found some really cool Chinese rice bowls at an estate sale.”
She said it was funny because she and Cameron lived in Wuhan, China from 2017 to 2019, and they never bought much to bring home.
Melissa said they left right before the outbreak of coronavirus.
Brooklyn Williamson, 20, The Dalles
“I have not gone this year,” she said after peddling her bike down Union Street. “I usually get clothes and electronic stuff, speakers and sound systems.”
Liam Linker, 13, above, and Ella Merritt, not pictured, 12, both of The Dalles.
“I got this cardigan I’m wearing at a yard sale,” Liam said.
“I usually look for clothes or trinkets. Jewelry is good,” Ella said.
Bill Lennox, 42 or 74 depending on who’s giving the answer, The Dalles and his daughter Morgen Lennox, 40, The Dalles
“I love to go to yard sales,” Bill said. “When I go I am hoping to find a treasure… that something special.”
Bill said he had found a heat lamp in recent years and it was unusual because of the approximate 10-pound base. “I’m not sure if it is for poultry or plants,” he said. “I still have not found a use for it.”
“I found a beautiful milk glass lamp,” Morgen added. “It’s vintage, opaque and beautiful.”
Jonathan Zilka, I forgot to ask his age, The Dalles
Jonathan was working the waffle cones at Shannon’s Ice Cream after a rush.
“I’ve got to make them all the time. These will be gone by the time the next rush goes through.”
“I’ll stop at a good sale for sure,” he said. “I love rolls of fabric. I have a lot of uses for fabric… like curtains.”
“Sometimes tools, drill bits. American-made screwdrivers and handsaws are made with such great quality. Crescent and Diamond used to be the standards but now they’re high quality,” he said comparing it with the mass-produced tools you find now in many stores.
Randy Riha, 63, The Dalles
“Yeah, I have been to a few,” he said while walking East on Second Street. “It’s been a while, but when I went I bought clothes.”
Schools out for Summer
Emily Campagna, Danny Campagna, Fred Hines, Taylor Alsheimer, Kelsey Alsheimer and Brian Greely - TDHS Teachers enjoying a refreshment after the last day of school.
The group said they were all in favor of a good sale, noting they looked for sporting equipment, tools, and antiques.
“I have a weird friend who likes unusual objects,” said Kelsey. “Taxidermy and weird stuff.”
“I found my first car at a garage sale,” said Taylor. “It was free. It spurred my interest to be a mechanic. It was a ‘79 Datsun pickup. I was in high school.”
Taylor said it was a great deal because he learned to work on vehicles using that pickup, plus he got all the free stuff in the bed of the pickup too.
Who could resist that?
Taylor, by the way, is the instructor for Automotive Technology at The Dalles High School.
