Town-Wide Yard & Sidewalk Sale

In anticipation of the 2008 celebrations, a Town-Wide Yard & Sidewalk Sale was first held in June 2007 as a dry-run to gauge community interest in holding such an event as part of the Loyalist Landing activities. The response was astounding. The Town of Shelburne basically doubled its population for one day as nearly every merchant and homeowner in the Town participated in one way or another. Communities bordering the Town, such as Jordan Ferry and Sandy Point, also held yard sales, while people from other Shelburne County communities such as Lockeport and Barrington set up yard sale tables in Town.

The Town-Wide Yard & Sidewalk Sale has its inspiration in the annual Woodworkers Home Hardware yard sale which has always been a big annual attraction in itself. In 2007, a second hardware store - the King Street Tim-BR Mart - was added to the Shelburne retail landscape and opted to use the Town-Wide Yard & Sidewalk Sale as its official opening and first annual yard sale. Many of the church and community groups hold fundraising yard or bake sales, while the Town’s restaurants feature yard sale lunchtime specials ranging from a special menu to free slushies for the kids.

What has made this event such a hit and will continue to make it such a big attraction is that there are no fees involved whatsoever. The Town of Shelburne grants a one-day blanket approval allowing merchants, homeowners and vendors to set up on sidewalks and in parks. And the rules are very simple - sellers are completely responsible for their own yard sale and for cleaning up after themselves, and any money they make is theirs to keep. It’s a formula that’s worked very well so far for everyone - the Town, the merchants, the homeowners, the vendors and the yard salers.

The blueprint for the continued success of the Town-Wide Yard & Sidewalk Sale is straightforward: simple rules, the synergy of the Town’s retail merchants taking the lead, and the basic premise that everyone loves a yard sale. These factors have all contributed to the success of this event, making it the largest yard & sidewalk sale on the south shore and a much anticipated annual event in the Town of Shelburne. For the last two years, the Town-Wide Yard & Sidewalk Sale has been organized by the LL08 Society. As the Society’s mandate is now over and the Society was dissolved in February 2009, the Shelburne Longboat Society will take over the organization of this event.