There was a lot of spring-cleaning around Naramata last weekend in preparation for the community yard sale on April 25. It is expected once again this year that 10 per cent of the full-time occupied homes in Naramata will be participating, calculates coordinator Craig Henderson.
“In 2014, we had 60 locations noted on the free map to the yard sales and fundraising events. Naramata has about 800 households and a good percentage of those are summer homes. Therefore, it is quite remarkable to think that close to a tenth of our full-time homes will be hosting sales,” Henderson said.
Naramata Parks & Recreation sponsors the community yard sale, which last year attracted an estimated 2000 visitors.
“There was a steady stream of traffic heading northbound from Penticton between 8 and 10 a.m. last year and all 700 maps were gone by early afternoon. Thousands of dollars were also raised by our community groups,” Henderson said.
Besides the residential sales, community groups are getting in on the action. The elementary school will have a used clothing sale; the Old Age Pensioners Hall will have a bake sale and barbecue; the Naramata Museum’s Thrift Shop will hold a special pre-season opening; the Naramata Community Church has a barbecue and the Naramata Garden Club will have plants and gently used tools for sale. Henderson has been coordinating the sale since 2010 and one of his most memorable encounters was during the federal election campaign of 2011 when even quasi-celebrity politicians could not resist the deals.
“Senator Larry Campbell dropped by to promote the Liberals. Mr. Campbell, theformer Vancouver coroner and the inspiration for the TV series Da Vinci's Inquest was elated with finding a repair manual for his 1955 Chevy pick-upduring the Naramata yard sale. He told me he has a vintage truck with abroken door and he desperately needed the book.”
Maps can be picked up as you enter Naramata, or go online on April 24 to www.mynaramata.com.