Lilburn Garage Sale Succeeds

Hundreds of residents from Lilburn and surrounding communities came out to support, peruse

and do a bit of shopping at the Lilburn Annual Garage Sale Saturday.

Dozens of vendors arrived at 8 a.m. or earlier Saturday to set up shop for the event's 9 a.m.

debut in a large parking lot in  Old Town. Dressers, blouses, comic books, bar stools, garden

flowers, shoes, cell phones and fur coats were just a few of the different items up for

purchase in this year's sale, and they were all a bargain. As the first truly good-weather

weekend of the year, big crowds were expected, and they came.

"They couldn't have picked a more perfect day," said vendor Joe Patula, who was there with

his wife, Robin. Joe Patula explained that he has had garage sales in his Lawrenceville

neighborhood before, but they've been unsuccessful. So when he heard about the one in Lilburn

this year, he decided to grab a spot, making it his first time ever at the annual event.

"It's been really good. And we've been making money, which is even better. ... We'll probably

come back."

Like the Patulas, many vendors were not only from outside of Lilburn, but it was their first

year here, too. Kathy Wilson of Snellville took the vendor spot next to the Patulas with

items such as oil paintings done by her mother, a toaster and mason jars. Wilson agreed that

she loves the idea of a community garage sale because vendors get more traffic for their

goods. "It's better access to everything," Wilson said.

Ms. Easton of Loganville, who had items such as glasswares, candlesticks and books, said she

enjoyed the garage sale as a vendor, too. "This is my first year," she said. "I saw it

advertised in The [Atlanta Journal-Constitution], so I decided to do it. Now I might do it

every year!"

Many items at the garage sale were homemade, too. In addition to her different knickknacks,

vendor Ann Fletcher also sold items from her business, Stampin Up, which makes artsy,

handmade greeting cards. One creative item that a vendor had was homemade magnets, made out

of bottle caps and decorated with miniature Hello Kitty, Georgia Tech and other cute designs

(the writer of this article picked up one designed with a logo from "True Blood," the HBO

vampire series).

Even a non-profit organization called New Beginnings from Ashe County, N. C., came down to

Lilburn to raise money for helping children in foster care with clothes, food, toys and a

place to stay. Run by a group of women, the organization's booth was filled with glass

bottles that had Christmas lights inside, used as decorations. 

As with garage sales in general, many showed up early to get first dibs on the best items.

The Patulas were able to sell their air hockey table, which was one of their largest items,

and many others had sold their furniture in minutes. One vendor was constantly slammed

because they had a number of unopened kids' toys up for sale, and passersby were eating them

up.

Customers were still coming into the lot after noon to see what items were still up for sale.

As many left for the day, they carried bags stuffed with goodies to their cars and seemed to

be content with their treasures.

There were definitely some steals at this garage sale. Make sure to check out the photos to

see what you may have missed at this Saturday's event in Old Town.