At Pandemic’s Beginning, Citywide Sale Continued

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“We sold the house and the closing is on Monday, March 16 and we’re moving out of the country on Wednesday,” said Don Chapman, homeowner at 2507 51st St. S. “So, we have a deadline. Yesterday, we decided to market the sale on Facebook and we let people know we have hand sanitizer wipes available to help with their safety during the pandemic!” Pictured is co-homeowner Jose Pereira who said, “It was Don’s idea to have the wipes.”

In the midst of a flurry of local event cancelations related to the COVID-19 pandemic that began being announced on the City of Gulfport’s website on Thursday, March 12, participation in the citywide yard sale was strategically left up to individual residents.

The yard sale was held on Saturday, March 14 in the wake of the World Health Organization declaring the current coronavirus an official pandemic on March 11.

In the city’s official brochure, over 100 residences were listed as participants and the Gabber visited several in the early morning hours.

Veteran yard salers Kim, left, and Jackie Overstreet at 2515 York St. S. provided shoppers with ambiance music. Jackie said, “We’ve had a few yard sales in the past. For us, the best way to sell clothes is not in totes or hangers. People like walking the whole fence.”
July Armstrong at 5722 17th Ave. S. has a philosophy of marketing for yard sales that is “get the word out, get the people in and sell cheap and let the items be gone!” She posted her two-person sale on Facebook in addition to listing it in the official city brochure. Also participating was Crea Starelk Eagan, founder of the Gulfport Food Forest, who was selling items to support the forest. Egan also gave away several varieties of seeds for people to plant. 
July Armstrong, right, specialized in beads for her March 14 yard sale “because we have a lot of crafters in this area.” She lucked into acquiring a bunch of beads so she sorted and packaged them for quick sales. “They love them,” she said.

 

by Debbie Wolfe

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