Photo: QueensPost
April 10, 2013 By Bill Parry
If two local women’s plan takes hold, the sidewalks of Sunnyside Gardens are going to be dotted with yard sales on one particular Saturday in late May.
The women aim to create a community event where residents located within the Sunnyside Gardens district all peddle their wares in front of their homes at the same exact time.
Sunnyside Gardens residents are invited to take part by simply setting out unwanted clothing, books, kitchenware, tools and toys on the sidewalk in front of their homes between 10am and 4pm on May 18. Participants are not required to register or pay fees.
Dorothy Morehead, a local realtor, came up with the idea after Community Board 2 canceled the Skillman Avenue Street fairs after a litany of complaints.
“Around here, people hated the festivals,” Morehead said. “The [Skillman Avenue] stores hated it because it interfered with business; it caused huge parking problems and even the generators were a nuisance.”
Many residents also complained that the vendors were from outside the neighborhood and sold tacky items.
Morehead has enlisted the help of Patricia Dorfman, the founder of Sunnyside Artists, to promote the event. Morehead said the community event is a better and cheaper alternative to the street fairs.
“The cost of insuring a street fair has become enormous,” Morehead said. With this event, she said, “Homeowners that choose to take part do it in front of their own home – their own space, no insurance or permits are required.”
The event offers other benefits as well. “Besides getting rid of stuff, it will be a festive atmosphere that brings neighbors together,” Dorfman said.
Morehead said the event will be well received by the neighborhood’s growing population of young families. “Children outgrow clothes, toys and games so quickly – things that are so expensive these days,” she said. “It’s also a good way to recycle things within the neighborhood.”
“And there’s no schlepping involved,” Dorfman said. “The hardest part of big rummage sales is moving stuff from Point A to Point B. I like this idea because we stay in Point A.”
For more information and tip sheets, email Dorothy at dorothy4040@msn.com or Pat at pixbiz@earthlink.net
