ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Graduation season is here for both secondary and higher education, and soon, the summer season will be upon the area.
One particular popular pastime in the summertime in Southwest Kansas is garage sales, and in recent years, a trend has garage sales expanding to become community-wide events.
May 25, the Kismet community will be hosting such an event with a citywide garage sale starting at 9 a.m. Coordinator Candice Hamilton said those wanting to take part in both selling and buying can find a list of addresses of sales that will be available May 24 and 25 on social media.
“People have the option to set up a booth on Main Street,” she said. “Vendors are going to set up on Main Street as well.”
Sellers can likewise set up at their homes, and booths will be placed in front of City Hall, the Kismet Pavilion and the Lions Den on Main Street.
“It starts at 9 a.m., and I advertise until 3 p.m.,” Hamilton said. “It’s a normal garage sale. They can sell anything out of their houses they want to get rid of.”
This is the second edition of the Kismet community garage sale, and Hamilton said the initial effort went quite well.
“Being the first year, there was a small turnout,” she said. “This year, maybe we’ll fill it up more.”
With anticipated increase of sales, Hamilton said she is excited to see what happens May 25 in the Seward County community.
“With the option on Main Street this year and having a couple vendors interested in setting up on Main Street, that’ll draw in a better crowd,” she said.
Hamilton said community garage sales have a particular advantages in smaller towns like Kismet.
“If just one person had a garage sale, not very many people would travel to Kismet for that,” she said. “If it’s citywide, it’s worth the drive to hit more than one garage sale.”
Hamilton said there will be a nice variety of items to shop at the sale, as well as an array of sellers.
“It’s a mix of people selling from older couples, younger couples, families, and individuals,” she said. “There’ll be a little bit for anybody and everybody.”
Springtime is still in the air, and the season finds many doing a little cleaning around the home. Hamilton said the upcoming garage sale helps with that, as well as with downsizing.
“If you have some appliances and stuff sitting around you haven’t used, you might as well pass them off to somebody who will,” she said.
For those wanting to set up a booth on Main Street, they are asked to take down and clean up after themselves following the sale. Hamilton said more information about the sale can be found on social media and in Kismet.
“As I gets closer, I’ll post a list of addresses and vendors on Facebook,” she said. “The Kismet library will share it on Facebook. I’ll try to post it on the Liberal Buy, Sell and Trade Facebook pages. We’ll post a copy at the Kismet General Store and the post office.”
Kismet residents can call Hamilton at 620-923-5463 to register by Friday.
