The long Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of garage/estate sale season, and in Leelanau County, there’s always hidden treasures to discover at the next stop.
All across the county, garage sales were abundant, whether it was held in a home, barn, tent, or actual garage, people were out and about shopping despite the somewhat cooler, overcast weather.
Tanya Popp was one of many who held an estate sale, limiting open days to Thursday, Friday, and half the day Saturday so that her own family could enjoy part of the holiday weekend. Popp said her late mother-inlaw, Annette, previously owned much of the items for sale, adding that she collected different things throughout the years, including everything from various Avon brand products and vintage dishware, to hundreds of collectible dolls, numerous books and furniture. Everything that does not sell, Popp said, will be donated.
“She (Annette) was one of the original Avon ladies from the county. Avon made a lot of makeup, and back then, it was even more than that… It was very big back in the 40s and 50s,” Popp said. “My mother-inlaw had collections, so that makes (organizing) it easier.”
As farmers, Popp said holding the sale on Memorial Day weekend allows them to downsize before the growing season gets insanely busy. Many of the shoppers that stopped by on the first day of the sale were just coming back to the area and looking for furniture and household items for their cottages. Others that have come by have been a mix of neighbors, friends, and those visiting Leelanau for the weekend.
“Everyone’s just getting started on the weekend,” she said. “We’ve been doing great, and a lot of stuff has gone and I feel like they’re going to good homes and it’s going to be loved, so that makes a big difference.”
Hal and Jan Fischer of Suttons Bay stopped at Popp’s estate sale Friday afternoon, and although Jan said they normally don’t go to garage sales on Memorial Day weekend, the cool, wet weather was a good reason to go shopping.
“We’ve just been browsing, but we do it (garage sales) all summer. We don’t always find something, but sometimes we do,” Hal said, explaining how part of the satisfaction in the search is finding something you didn’t know you needed.
Siblings’ Arlene Hege, Ronnie Reicha, and Diana Gyarmati of Lake Leelanau also had a widevariety of items available at their garage sale this weekend, including guns, rifles, household bits, fabrics, holiday decorations, and an assortment of Tupperware. Like Popp, they were also looking to clear out the house after their mother passed last year.
“She saved it all for us,” Reicha said.
“We got to go through everything because she (mom) never got rid of anything,” Arlene said. “We’ve had good traffic so far.”
Arlene and Diana said they grew up going to garage/yard sales and have been visiting thrift stores and the like for the last 50-plus years. Oftentimes, resale places, whether it’s a garage sale or a thrift store, even have new clothes with the tags still on them, Diana added, if you look hard enough.
“Prices are usually good. We grew up in the depression, I remember going to the thrift stores when I was a kid, I don’t have any qualms about telling people I shop at thrift stores,” Arlene said.
Another Memorial Day weekend estate sale in Northport featured vintage household items of all kinds. Ann Cary, a sum- mer resident, had her family present to help sell items ranging from furniture like an antique Victorian bed frame and mirror to costume jewelry, memorabilia, nautical items, art pieces, and more.
“It’s really been fun seeing people get simple things. We had three boxes of puzzles, gone like that, people were excited. We also sold a dining table this morning (Saturday) to a really nice family, so our family had memories and now this new family, they have young children, and they’ll be doing their homework at the table and having family dinners,” Cary said. “Earlier, there were three sisters with their families, and every Memorial Day weekend, they come up from downstate and spend the holiday in Leelanau County together. They go to estate sales, that’s what they do, so that’s nice to see.”
