Countdown to the 12th Annual Ryan Meadows Neighborhood $ale
I hope everyone is getting ready for Saturday.
Here is some important information to help you prepare for the sale:
1. MONEY: Get lots of change. You can never have enough $1’s. Please be careful with your money- this sale is really busy so don’t leave a cash box out. The best method is some type of apron or fanny-pack to carry your money on you. Don’t take checks from strangers. It was on the news that criminals have been targeting local garage sales with stolen checks. Direct them to the ATM machines on River Road. Don’t let strangers into your house to use the bathroom – direct them to the port-a-pottys.
2. WEATHER: The weather reports say 81degrees- yippee! Usually you need a canopy in case of rain, this year you will want a place for your customers to get out of the sun. This sale goes on Rain or Shine! The rain always threatens us but has never been more than a few sprinkles on Sale Day. You may need sunglasses and sunscreen this year!
3. PARKING: Parking is a big issue so please do not park your cars on the street. Traffic jams are our only major problem. If your neighbor is not having a sale, ask if you can park in their driveway. If you have a couple of cars, consider taking them down to Arrowhead park or even to a local parking lot. Remember, if people can’t park somewhere- they can’t buy from you. It is going to be a beautiful day so park outside of our neighborhood and ride your bike back home!
4. ADVERTISING: Our ads have been appearing in the Register-Guard with “Save the Date” notices and a larger ad will be in Fridays paper and on the R-G website. We have numerous ads on Craigslist for Eugene, the Oregon Coast, Albany/Corvallis and Salem. Go ahead and post your own ads on Craigslist.org especially if you have specialty items, be sure to mention you are in Ryan Meadows. I have been using the following directions: “River Road to Irvington to Korbel, look for the orange signs” to try and direct more traffic in from that direction. All of the ads are directing people to our website, RyanMeadowsNeighborhood.com.
5. WEBSITE: Tom Zorn of “RAM Inc.” does web design and hosting and he volunteered to build a website for the neighborhood. RyanMeadowsNeighborhood.com.
6. MARKETING: We need all of you to promote this sale to your friends, family and coworkers. I have attached a flyer that you can print or email to your friends. (Don’t forward this letter, just the attachment). If you are on Facebook, type in "Ryan Meadows Neighborhood Garage Sale" and our event should pop-up. Hit "Share" to let all your FB Friends know about it. Please do your part to make this event a success!
7. SET UP: Please make an effort to have a nice looking sale. Nobody wants to dig thru piles of clothes thrown on a tarp on the ground. Borrow tables from friends. If you don't have a clothes rack, use two ladders and a pole to hang things. People are willing to pay a decent price if your items are neat and clean. Customers come back every year because we are known as a nice neighborhood with quality items for sale. Supplies: Make sure you have extra price tags, scissors, spray cleaner, paper towels, tape, notepads, pens and calculators handy before customers start arriving. You will need lots of bags for your customers and paper to wrap breakables in. When your garage and driveway are full of customers you can’t leave to go get things. (Don’t forget to have something handy for lunch.)
8. TRASH CANS: Please put a trash can somewhere near the sidewalk so shoppers can dispose of their garbage as they are walking around. If you are selling sodas and water it would be nice to have a recycling bin available for your customers.
9. FOOD & BEVERAGES: We will have food this year! Riviera Baptist Church Youth Group will be at the South end of Korbel selling Hot Dogs, Chips, Drinks and Snacks. The Cub Scouts will be selling fresh Krispy Kreme donut holes at the cut-thru on Arrowhead and in front of Armored Storage, Nature Discovery School will be selling coffee at 3366 Merryvale, Classical Conversations- Home School Co-op will be selling coffee, donut holes, muffins, cookies, popcorn and popsicles at 3321 Goose Cross Lane. The County has rules for selling non-packaged food, they require a permit if you are preparing food and the deadline has passed.
10. BUYERS GUIDE: We will be handing out 800 copies of our buyer’s guides to shoppers on Saturday. This is a very popular feature of our sale and the customers really appreciate having all the information. One side will have a map of the neighborhood with the port-a-pottys indicated. The other side has general information and a list of the non-profit groups participating, what they are selling and their address. It also has a spot to write down where you parked your car and the date for next year’s sale. If you would like a few or a stack of ‘buyer’s guides” please come by 1056 Piper Sonoma on Friday after 4pm or Saturday morning. I will have some in a box out front so just take what you plan to pass out. PLEASE make sure I am aware of any non-profit groups that are participating by Friday A.M. so they can be included on the flyer.
11. SIGNS: We have lots of high quality orange signs that will be posted on River Road, Northwest Expressway, all entrances and throughout the neighborhood. The Cub Scouts are hired to put them up and take them down. If you see any signs after Saturday night that got missed- please take them down and contact me.
12. PORT-A-POTTY: One of the features that keeps shoppers in our neighborhood (spending money all day long) is the port-a-pottys we have available for them. The nice people at Armored Storage move theirs up to the street and allow our shoppers to use it. There will be a second one located at the corner of Sonoma & Vitner so we have one in the Northern area of the neighborhood and one in the Southern area. Please point these out when shoppers inquire.
13. DONATIONS : This year we have 2 options for unwanted items to be picked-up at our homes. Both groups will have tax-deduction reciepts available.
Riviera Baptist Church Youth Group is having a sale later this summer to raise money to go to camp. They would love to pick-up your left-over items after the sale on Saturday. Please contact Beth via phone or text at 541-968-1508 with your address and they will pick up boxed or bagged items on your porch.
St Vincent De Paul's will pick up boxed items by the curb after 4pm. We usually fill-up about 5 trucks with donations. The drivers can decide what they will and won’t accept but a few things they do NOT take include: baby cribs, car seats, walkers or strollers, console TV’s and non-working TV’s. BBQ’s and Mowers must not have any fuel in them. All items must be boxed-up and kept dry. The drivers will have maps of the area and it takes a few hours to cover the whole neighborhood. If you think they missed you, call 345-0595. We have had problems with people making a big mess as they scavenge through items left for donation. The volunteers at St Vincent’s don’t have time to clean things up and put them back in the boxes. If you spot anyone scavenging, tell them this is “private property” and you will call the police if they don’t leave.
14. PRE-SALE: The only bad thing about having a sale is you don’t get to shop the other sales. Some neighbors like to pre-sale with each other as everyone is getting set-up on Friday afternoon and evening. The usual protocol is to peek your head in if someone has their garage door open and ask if they are allowing “neighbor pre-sale”. If you are not comfortable with this- just say you are not ready.
15. REGISTRATIONS: As of this evening we have almost 80 registrations turned in. I know everyone is busy so if you have not yet dropped off your registration and $10, you can bring it by when you pick up buyer's guides or sometime next week. You get quite a value for that $10! I am sure we will have enough $ for this year AND next year and if we are really lucky, we won't have to collect again until 2014! Two years ago we ended up with over 130 registrations and most came in right before and after the sale.
Special Thanks to Kellie Andre for helping with the accounting, Sharon Remillard for flyer distribution, Chelsea Hardrath for marketing, Tom Zorn of RAM Inc at 221-9100 for building our website and Armored Storage for the use of their Port-a-potty and storing our signs all year!!
Good Luck to Everyone!
I hope you can de-clutter your homes, make some money, buy some treasures, get to know your neighbors and have some fun!
I will need some of you to volunteer to help next year if you want this tradition to continue. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Take Care,
Donnita
1056 Piper Sonoma, Eugene OR 97404
541-688-4573 Facebook: Travel MOM
