Enjoy “paradise” at home this weekend with the Route 66 Garage Sales
 

[June 09, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

If you enjoy garage and yard sales, then Route 66 in Logan County will be a paradise location for you this weekend. The Route 66 Garage Sales will offer more than 70 locations today, some in Atlanta and Lawndale, and the lions share in Lincoln or just outside of town.

Throughout today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) you will find sales at local landmarks, sales benefiting specific local organizations, and sales at dozens of local residences offering the typical and sometimes unusual items for sale.

If you’re not particularly a garage sale fan, but enjoy getting good quality items for not a lot of money, then this could also be the weekend for you to explore garage sale-ing as an option to new retail, especially if you’re shopping for the kids. Children often outgrow their clothing before they actually wear it out. This leaves parents with closets full of items that are too good to throw away, but too small for their children to wear comfortable. The answer is pass-it-on to family members, or if there are no other children are in the family, sell it at a garage sale.

On Friday, LDN went ‘shopping” and found residential sales where you could buy anything from glittering pink little girl cowboy boots to tutu skirts, blue jeans and t-shirts, and winter coats, all in near new condition, and all reasonably priced.

If you’re sending a kid off to college this year and need to purchase some basic items they will need in their dorm room, buying new may give you pause because after all, they are still kids, and they are going to ruin stuff, break stuff, and lose stuff. So take the opportunity this weekend to look for items that you can buy cheap and worry less about the dollars the kiddos will ruin, break, or lose. So what did LDN find that fits that bill? How about boxes of silverware for cheap! Sure, the forks may not all match the spoons, but when the spoon is going to be used for eating cereal, peanut, butter and ice cream, who cares?

Coffee mugs and plastic cups are plentiful at some of the sales. Great for sending off to college, because it didn’t cost 4-bucks, it cost a quarter! If it gets broken or lost, it’s not like you lost dollars, you’ve only lost cents.

During the LDN trek through town, stopping off at some of the landmarks in the area such as the Mill on Route 66 proved to be a very pleasant experience. Garage sale items were set outside at the back of the building and included some cool collectibles. Entering into the Mill through the back door, there was plenty of opportunity to do more shopping in the Mill gift shop area. Garage sale items were set up on tables in that room, but there was also an opportunity to make purchases from the full-retail gift shop.

At Postville Park vendors were set up offering wares from their home based businesses. On gal was featuring a new-fangled nail coating that is great for those who love a nice pretty nail, but have a bit of an unsteady hand. The vendor explained that the nail coverings are real polish and go on 95 percent dry. The five percent remaining moisture is what helps the nails cover stick to the nail. She said her daughter got her started with the nail covers, and she personally loves them. And….she was giving away free samples.

Also at the park, if you love quirky yard art, fun jewelry, coffee mugs, kitchen towels, blankets and throws, and biker stuff, be sure to check out the park! For the kids the inflatables were set up at the park and for a small fee kids could play to their hearts delight!

Just up (or down) the street from the park was the annual sale at the Cronin Brothers VFW. Inside today, one will find returning vendors, those who have set up inside the VFW for the last few years including the flat glass bottle lady, the stained glass man, the metal art guy, the ink pen fellow, and the Tupperware lady.

The St. John’s United Church of Christ is hosting a bake sale inside the VFW as well. The proceeds from the sale will go toward an annual Veteran’s Celebration hosted by the church each year in November.

Outside the VFW today, you will find another great veteran organization, the local Bob Graue Marine Corp League. The Marines will be serving up lunch throughout the day that will include sandwiches hot off the grill, cooked in a tent in the front lawn at the VFW. The marines work hard each year to support a number of local projects including an annual Veteran’s Breakfast held at Eminence Church in rural Atlanta, and in Lincoln, Toys for Tots. Money from their food sales today will go toward those projects and others that benefit local veterans.

Another food opportunity that will benefit others will take place in the parking lot at CCA Online/Lincoln Daily News, 601 Keokuk in Lincoln. The Friends and Family Relay Team will be selling sandwiches hot off the grill to benefit the Logan County Relay for Life. Pork chops and Rib eyes from Lincoln IGA will be the feature meat at the sandwich sale, grilled up by LDN’s Roy Logan and Jim Youngquist. Be sure to stop in and say hello and grab a bite to eat.

And finally, another great organization that utilizes the annual garage sale to benefit its program is the Humane Society of Logan County. Don’t miss the opportunity to check out the huge selection of items being offered at the yellow door exhibit barn at the Logan County Fairground in Lincoln.

The HSLC uses funds raised by their garage sale to support their no-kill animal shelter in Lincoln. HSLC is not supported by any local, state, or federal funding, so this fundraiser is vitally important to the survival of the program locally.

Today (Saturday) is going to be the best shopping opportunity as all 70-plus locations will be open. On Sunday some of the spots will be closed, but there will still be plenty of opportunities for shopping.

Out tip to the avid shopper or the novice, grab hold of an official Route 66 Garage Sale map. The maps are available all over town, including about all the gas stations and convenience stores, as well as at many of the garage sale sites. Go through the map and mark the sales that are going on Sat and Sun. If the sale isn’t happening on Sunday, then definitely go to that one today. If it is happening Sunday, then save that one for tomorrow.

All in all, we hope you have a good weekend, and enjoy snatching up bargains, buying unique items, eating good food, and just in general having fun being a part of our Route 66 community.

[Nila Smith]