Play fair
I am going to stick my neck out one more time here. I've spent a week or two trying to figure out a clever way to say all of this in a really positive and upbeat manner. I have messed around with nursery rhymes ("There was an old woman with too many shoes"), and show tunes ("We're off to see the wonders of ev-ery single garage"), and television theme songs ("Sometimes you wanna' go where all the sales don't look the same"). Pretty pathetic, aren't they?
So I decided to just revert to my usual tell-it-like-it-is harangue. If that sounds too negative for you, it probably is and you should stop reading right here.
First a little history. In the 1990s the annual community-wide garage sale was sponsored by the Main Street Association. I have no idea why they chose to do it except that it was something the community wanted and they went along. Every year they lost money because they only charged $5 to participate. The money they took in wasn't enough to cover the advertising they did in area newspapers. They subsidized YOUR personal moneymaker. Nice of them, huh?
A couple of years ago Peabody Main Street was desperately trying to restructure itself and didn't have the funds or active personnel to do the legwork. I volunteered to have the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin sponsor it just to keep it going. It was a popular event and the paper's participation seemed logical to me. The newspaper owners already sponsored the Marion and Hillsboro sales. Why not sponsor one in Peabody also? Bingo, a plan was hatched.
But since the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin is a business, the plan included not losing money
In addition, the plan was to print 1,000 maps to be distributed by participants and businesses. Plus we would pass out "Official Garage Sale" signs to all parties who paid. Good plan. But the problem was that we raised the fee from $5 to $15 so as not to lose money as the Main Street organization had done.
The first year wasn't too bad; most people paid to be included. The second year was less than stellar, but last year was a bust. We had only 18 people to pay the advertising bill. Not exactly a "community-wide" event. But glory be, the big day dawned and 42 more of you hauled out your goodies and had yourselves a garage sale. (I know this because I drove around town last year, street by street, and wrote down all 42 of your names and addresses.)
Once the buyers were in town who knew or cared that you didn't pay to help get them here? Well, me, for one. That was all I wanted of that project. I decided the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin wasn't going to be a party to that sham another year. Much as I love Peabody and want to see it promoted far and wide, I don't honestly think that 42 of you leaching off the 18 people who play by the rules constitutes a community-wide anything. Nor do I think that it is the job of my employer to pick up your advertising tab when you refuse to pay your part.
I decided the paper just wouldn't sponsor the event again.
But guess who howled the loudest when they found out that there was not going to be a community-wide garage sale this year? Yup, you guessed it! All those folks who didn't kick in last year! Imagine that. The poor city staff has been taking the guff and hassle for several months because there was no other group willing to step up to the plate and pay the bill. And naturally none of the whiners wanted to organize it, do the legwork, and pick up the tab. Of course not, someone ELSE should do it for them.
Let me give you a little heads up here, people. Valley Center had a community-wide garage sale two weeks ago. Their ad in the Wichita Eagle noted 200 garage sales! The streets were packed. Do you really think that people from anywhere are going to come to Peabody for 18 or 20 sales?
If you really want to get people here to buy your left-over treasures, we need to list enough sales to make it worth their while. Would you drive 40 or 50 miles for 18 garage sales? I wouldn't. But I might for 60 or 100 or 130. If you only want people from Peabody to attend this event then there is no reason to advertise in other newspapers, none of us needs a map, and the event certainly does not need a sponsor.
But if you want this to become something that people watch for and attend annually then it needs to have its name out there for bargain shoppers to see. It's your choice. You can participate (the fee this year is $10) and help us get the word out or you can plan on this being the last one
As I have already said a couple of times this year (negative person that I am), you are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem. It's your choice.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
