PORT ANGELES — The first day of the Clallam County Historical Society’s final big garage sale is today.
The historical society’s 24th Garage Sale Around the Corner will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today and Saturday. It is in eight rooms of the old Lincoln School site at 933 W. Ninth St.
A half-price day is set for the remainder of the sale items Friday, Aug. 31, and a “Buck-a-Bag” day is planned for Saturday, Sept. 1.
It’s the last garage sale for the time being, said Kathy Estes, executive director of the Clallam County Historical Society.
“That’s not to say it won’t come back at some point,” she added.
The popular sale — which includes a huge number of items in a variety that includes household items, clothing, books, dolls, jewelry, antiques and gardening items — will be put on hold so that historical society staff and volunteers can focus on artifacts storage, Estes said Thursday.
“The garage sale takes up six to seven months of our time, instead of doing what we are supposed to be doing” preserving historical artifacts, she said.
“It’s been a good fundraiser. The board will have to come up with something else.”
Estes said a couple of major projects need to be done in the artifacts facility.
“Nothing has been done there for about 20 years,” she said.
Rolling storage is to be installed to increase capacity and Estes also hopes to set up set up a couple more computer stations in the office so that more volunteers can work at the same time.
Funds from the annual garage sale have been used to renovate the old school site for the historical society.
“When we first started out, [proceeds] were maybe $4,000,” Estes said.
“In the last few years, they have been between $25,000 and $35,000.”
For the past three years, proceeds from the garage sale have gone toward renovating the research library.
Forty to 50 volunteers have made the annual sale possible, Estes said.
On Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. was a members-only sale. Memberships could be purchased up to the opening of the afternoon’s event. Dues are $25 for senior citizens, $30 for an individual and $35 for a family.
“I’ve had a lot of phone calls and emails from people who want to join” to go to the members-only sale, Estes said early Thursday.
The historical society, which has about 300 members, generally picks up between 20 and 30 new members before the annual garage sale, she said.
For more information, see clallamhistorical society.com, call 360-452-2662 or email artifact@olypen.com.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
