Thursday, April 18, 2019

Paul Richardson: God bless the Neosho City-wide Garage Sale

(Paul Richardson's The Horse I Rode In On column is published weekly in the Neosho Daily News, the Seneca News-Dispatch and on the Turner Report.)

I have avoided the City-Wide Garage Sale for several years. However, this year as a member of the Exchange Club, I ventured into town and assisted at our latest endeavor, a food vending trailer. 

The experiment went well, and we found some hits and some misses. We haven’t really discussed and determined the star of the show, but I think we have some information to work with. It is certainly clear as to a couple of items that we will want to avoid in the future.

The good wife loves this event. She loves garage or yard sales on any occasion, but she has an affinity for the City-Wide event. She and a girlfriend planned and executed a Friday hunt. This was followed by a lone hunt on Saturday when she accompanied me into Neosho in order to assist throughout the day at our food trailer. We were established in front of Henry Freund’s home on Oak Ridge Drive. So, the good wife walked from that location south to Gooch Road and back, took a short rest and then walked from the food trailer to Sherman Street and back. That was quite a hike!

Having made most of her purchases on Friday, she only bought a few items on Saturday. She always finds something for me. Some items grab her attention, so on occasion she will make purchases for others. These are usually unique items that would have a special connection with someone’s particular taste or collections. On occasion she will make an errant purchase, but usually she returns with some real favorites.

I don’t really enjoy this kind of activity and there are certainly way too many people crammed together for my taste. My arrival was early Saturday morning while very few people were obstructing my path. Since we had to teardown and clean up at closing time on Saturday evening, my departure was also unobstructed. During the day I just remained at the food trailer location.

In the aftermath of the event, I was able to inspect the items that the good wife had purchased for me. One will require the purchase of another item in order to make a proper and complete set, but it was a great purchase and I was intending to purchase the other item anyway. 

Another purchase will place me in a position in which I will be required to join in on some activity with my grandson and maybe some other cohorts. Once again, I need the exercise anyway!

Post event revelations can be quite entertaining. On Tuesday morning following the City-Wide Garage Sale, the good wife said, “I don’t know if I should tell you this or not, but I discovered something yesterday."

At once I knew that this was going to be a hoot! She doesn’t say something of this nature unless it is something on her and possibly really weird. Continuing, she said, “I purchased four cups with a Norman Rockwell scene or each cup. When I bought these on Friday, I was so excited. (note; Norman Rockwell is her favorite artist) However,” she continued, “I kept thinking that there was something unusual about the cups." 

At this point I was thinking that maybe there was something wrong with the cups, however she continued with, “The first year that mom (my dear mother) and dad lived on Oak Ridge Drive, we participated in the City-Wide Garage Sale. 

"I sold four cups with Norman Rockwell prints on them. After much examination, I have determined that these are the one and the same cups. I just re-purchased the cups I sold in 1995!" Folks, you can’t make this stuff up!

The cups were sold in 1995 after we had just moved from the farm. With a smaller house and less space, some things simply had to go. 

On the bright side, she sold the cups for five dollars and only paid two dollars to redeem them. Hey, she made a profit and got her cups back. God Bless the City-Wide Garage Sale!

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