Did you happen to stop by any of the homes participating in the huge Avalon Park Community Yard Sale last Saturday? If not, you missed a great event! It was my first time and I was very impressed with the quality of the items for sale and all of the homeowners were so nice. Our community was well represented.
Hats off to Chris and all those who helped to make this event a great one for the participants and attendees. With over 80 families participating, those I spoke with all agreed that people began to come by around 8am (a few earlier than that) and most saw a steady stream all the way through the end at noon.
Lori on Fern Marsh has been participating for the past seven years and says that “it is always a great event” for her. Lori is known for the quality of the items she places in the yard sale and has developed “regulars” who make sure they stop by to see her and her items each year. Janice on Cassia has done this for two years now and was pleased with the turnout; she said the “flyer was impressive and the map was great”. Mary on Lake Live Oak was participating for the first time this year and also was amazed at the traffic. Shannon on Red Buckeye commented that “this is the only way to have a garage sale”. By the way, Shannon used bright colored directional signs that brought me directly to her home — they were easy to spot and positioned well. Kudos to Shannon!
I ventured to the Bella Vida and Waterford Trails participants to see if they had similar results — luckily for them, they did. Kathy in Bella Vida said she is from Titusville and has done a lot of yard sales in her life but that this event “has been super”. Rebekah on Perdido in Waterford Trails was the furthest participant I found (from the entrance off Alafaya). She too said it had been “very good for them and that they would definitely do it again”. She noticed some attendees did not know about the community event so she made sure to send them further down Avalon Park Boulevard — thanks Rebekah.
Food for Thought from the participants: I asked each to share how they would improve upon the event. All agreed that it would be best to separate the day of the Yard Sale from that of the OctoberFest event. They felt the detours may have deterred some attendes from seeing certain homes if they weren’t familiar with Avalon Park and didn’t know how to work their way around the neighborhood. Many would love to see directional signs or balloons provided as part of the registration fee since not everyone had a map or was aware of the website.
All in all, I think it was a win-win for everyone. The homeowners made some dollars and the attendees were happy with the deals they got. I hope the local businesses were also able to cash-in on the traffic coming through…more on that in my next blog.
