By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
By the time Brian and Debra Sell packed all their purchases from the giant garage sale on Friday morning, their pickup truck was brimming with treasures.
Debra picked out a drafting table, perfect for putting together puzzles on. And of course, there were the new-to-her puzzles to piece together – with no guarantee that all the pieces were included.
“I’m taking a big risk,” she said with a grin.
Brian packed a couple tables into the bed of the truck.
“I cannibalize the wood,” he said, showing how he could make multiple cutting boards or charcuterie boards from a coffee table.
In the back seat of the truck were old table lamps that Brian planned to convert into side tables. “A place for a whiskey glass and phone, by a Lazy Boy.”
Debra admitted that a return trip may be needed to the garage sale.
“When we get home, we may think we should go back to get more treasures,” she said.
The Bowling Green couple were among several hundreds of customers rummaging through the annual Wood County Humane Society Garage Sale held at the Wood County Fairgrounds.
The sale, which outgrew one building at the fairgrounds, is spread between the grandstand and the Home & Garden buildings – encompassing more than 22,000 square feet. The sale will continue Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The merchandise includes household items, collectibles, crafts, hardware, lawn and garden items, furniture, toys, books and clothing.
Shoppers moved through the aisles, stalking good deals on items they couldn’t resist.
Take the figurines table. There was a laughing pig, happy hippo, dog in a bonnet, and rabbits dancing together. “They look so happy,” one woman said as she added the ceramic rabbits to her basket. There were endless angels, creepy clowns and colonial couples.
There were toys, games and wagons – which doubled as shopping carts for savvy bargain hunters. There was a lobster trap, model train, and small organ.
The kitchen gadget area was full of traditional pots and pans, blenders, toasters and crockpots. But it also featured a chocolate fondue fountain, a “Babycakes” cupcake maker, and an “Eggstractor,” which boasted it could peel hard boiled eggs instantly.
The primping and pampering tables had a therapy foot spa and whirlpool deep heat spa. For shoppers looking to improve their appearance there were plenty of curling irons and hot rollers. And if all those failed, there were some wigs for sale.
The outdoor recreation area sported tents, thermoses, coolers, picnic baskets, sleds, golf clubs, ice skates, bicycles and snow skis. For those whose athletic attempts might go awry, there was a bin of crutches and canes of all sizes.
For animal lovers there were dog beds, cat scratching posts, aquariums, bird cages and handmade pet sweaters.
There we old stereos and computers, and a pile of remote controls. There were alarm clocks, vacuums, and handsaws.
There were suitcases, books, purses, picture frames and lots of jewelry. Tables were full of craft supplies, cookie cutters, Christmas decorations, glassware, goblets and snowglobes.
There were pieces of exercise equipment, probably collecting dust in their original homes. And rocking chairs to rest in after a workout.
Racks were filled with clothing, and shelves were stacked with shoes – for every season and style from sneakers, slippers and sandals, to snow boots, rain boots and cowboy boots.
For the very young, there were carseats, cribs and high chairs.
Linda Lander, a volunteer at the humane society garage sales for about 25 years, said she had never seen as many shoppers already in line when the doors opened at 9 a.m.
“There were people as far as I could see,” she said, noting that estimations put the number of early bird bargain hunters at more than 300.
Amanda Gamby came to the garage sale over her lunch break as a matter of tradition. She used to come to the sale every year with her mom. Since her mom passed, Gamby has been coming on her own and buying items to make arrangements for her mother’s grave.
She picked up some flowers for her mom, and some yarn and beads for her daughter who likes to make jewelry. And for herself? Gamby was lucky enough to find a giant peacock head big enough for humans to wear.
“Who doesn’t need one of those?” Gamby said with a grin.
Nearby, Bob Kreienkamp was eyeing a table of glassware items. His wife was elsewhere, looking for cat items and planters. He was fully aware of his role at the garage sale.
“I’m her pack mule. That’s been my lot in the past,” he said, smiling. “That’s what good husbands do.”
Now in its 29th year, the sale is one of the Wood County Humane Society’s largest fundraisers, raising a record $35,042 in 2022 which provided for the the care of more than 700 animals housed in the Minnebelle Conley Shelter, a no-kill humane shelter owned and operated by the Humane Society on Van Camp Road in Bowling Green.
