🏷️ Garage sales galore this weekend

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Garage sales! You don’t need a humble neighborhood news service to explain what those are. But, it may be helpful to know that the neighborhood will be teeming with them this weekend. 

More than 70 sales are planned as part of the Longfellow Community Council’s annual Longfellow Neighborhood Garage Sale on Saturday and Sunday. The neighborhood group has organized the weekend-long assemblage of sales since 2013, taking after similar neighborhood clusters in Seward and Nokomis East. (Longfellow Whatever is proud to be a sponsor this year.)

The group published a handy interactive map of the sales, plus a detailed list of what kinds of items to expect at each. Remember to pay special attention to whether a sale is on both days or just one. 

You can also pick up printed copies of the maps at any of these places: 

In addition to the sales at people’s homes, there will also be markets and sales at a handful of neighborhood businesses, including sales at Time Bomb, Sharp Signs, and True Finds; the Buy Nothing Spring Boutique at Howe Elementary; makers markets at the Bungalow Club and Toolbox Collective; and the long-running St. Albert the Great Rummage Sale. 

Since there’s not much else to say on the matter, I asked ChatGPT for its three worst pieces of advice for someone attending a neighborhood garage sale festival. Here’s what it offered: 

Bring Large Bills Only: Carry only $50 or $100 bills and insist on paying with them.

Haggle Aggressively: Start by offering a quarter of the asking price for every item, and refuse to budge, even if the seller is clearly uncomfortable.

Arrive Late: Show up in the last hour of the sale and complain loudly about the limited selection, expressing surprise that the best items are already gone.

Lastly, an ask: If you buy, sell, or just see anything particularly amusing, please consider e-mailing a picture to hello@longfellowwhatever.com.