Sanders County opened its doors last weekend for its annual county-wide yard sale event. Hundreds of people, including some from as far as Cody, Wyoming, hunted across the county at almost 100 yard sales. Some of the sales were done for personal reasons, and others benefited groups and organizations.

One such organization was Friends of the Quilting House in Thompson Falls. The organization hosted a yard sale at the home members, Ginger Ward. Funds from the sale went into the organization's budget, to pay for quilting supplies. Along with garage sale items, the group sold fabric by the pound and had a donation bucket. Friends of the Quilting House creates quilts and donates them to Sanders County veterans. Each quilt is estimated to cost around $250-$300 to make and can be bigger than 60 inches by 80 inches. They make 50 quilts a year and estimate the cost to be around $12,000. Since making such quilts can take them several days, this means the five ladies in the organization are essentially making one quilt per week. The group has been operating for the last 10 years, and used to be out of the Quilting House, which sold fabric in town. "It is fun, we like to do it, and the vets, just watching their faces, are worth it," Ward said.

Thompson Falls Woman's Club had two sales over the weekend, including one at the Black Bear Ballroom. The club, which is raising money for a centennial cookbook, made over $1,000 in their sales.

Robin Hagedorn with Thompson Falls Main Street Inc. coordinated the Sanders Sale-ing event. "We had a lot of sales, but we didn't quite break a record," Hagedorn said, noting that one year there were more than 90 sales registered in the event. This year, 86 sales were registered, and Hagedorn said there are always people who decide to have a sale after the deadline. Registration fees help promote the Sanders Sale-ing event through advertising and posters.

"Everyone I talked to said they had steady customers" both Friday and Saturday, Hagedorn said. She added that the new bright yellow signs designating Sanders Sale-ing sales help direct traffic.

Another Thompson Falls sale was held by Angie Lowe, who held a sale for the second time in the last seven years. Lowe held her sale because both of her parents passed away and now, she said she is trying to store three households of stuff in one. "My house is full of my stuff, so I didn't have room for their stuff, too!" said Lowe. She spoke of the "caravans of yard-salers," saying that it was interesting how she could tell people were doing many sales because they would come in waves. She thought that was pretty funny. Her sale also did very well. On Friday, she made $650. "That's a lot, considering I'm selling most things for a dollar or two!"

Lacey Eaton, in Trout Creek, has also held a sale before. They have held a multi-family yard sale the last couple years to make more space. "We just have a lot of collected stuff throughout the years," said Eaton. She and her family made about $200 on Saturday morning. She was concerned because her husband was out shopping at the yard sales. "My husband spent more than I made! He is not allowed to yard sale anymore," Eaton said as her husband walked into the house with a several hundred-dollar Elk mount that barely fit through the door.

When the sales were over, numerous items that were not sold ended up on the doorstep of the Little Bitterroot Thrift shop in Thompson Falls. "I have seen a lot worse years than this," said Amanda Moseley with Little Bitterroot Services. She added that after the sale-ing weekend there is a flood of items that they must sift through. "It is great, all the donations, but now we have to go through it all and toss some things away that probably should have been thrown away before."

John Dowd

Dawn Garrison (left) and Kathy Payne traveled from Cody, Wyoming, to find deals during the Sanders Sale-ing event last weekend. The duo stayed at Rocky Point Ranch east of Thompson Falls during their visit.

The Sanders Sale-ing event is held the last weekend in June. The 2022 event will be June 24 and 25.