Treasures abound at county yard sale

SANDERS COUNTY – Many say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That saying proved true this weekend as the eighth annual Sanders County Yard Sale-ing event hit the county.

From Heron to Dixon the sides of Montana Highway 200 were lined with an assortment of items and yards were filled with bargain hunters searching for desired items.

The event brought treasure hunters out in droves as they searched the sides of Highway 200 and Highway 28 for desired items.

With over 80 different yard sales listed within the county along the Clark Fork river, shoppers had plenty of options and quite a few opportunities to find whatever they were looking for.

The communities of Dixon, Hot Springs, Paradise, Plains, Thompson Falls, Trout Creek, Noxon and Heron all participated in the annual shopping event.

Many of the towns in Sanders County had multiple yards sales, with several running throughout the day on both Saturday, June 28 and Sunday, June 29.

The weather on Saturday was a little chilly and damp but Sunday offered much better conditions for the outdoor event.

“The crowds have been really good so far, we have been really busy today,” Jackie Mustain of Thompson Falls said. This year marked the first time Mustain sold items during the weekend yard sale-ing event, selling items from storage units she owns off of Highway 200.

“I just had a lot of junk to get rid of and it seemed like a good idea,” Mustain said.

The large number of yard sales within Sanders County not only offered vendors a chance to get rid of unwanted items, it provided an opportunity for shoppers to find interesting items, while increasing visitor traffic in the county.

The increased traffic led businesses to receive a boost in the early summer weekend as shoppers traveled the corridors of the county’s highways.

The goal of the countywide yard sale weekend is to improve awareness and build recognition for local residents about the significance of tourism as a tool for economic development throughout northwestern Montana.

Visitors to the county’s yard sale inject money into the local economy by purchasing gasoline, lodging, meals and souvenirs, in addition to the bargain finds they discover at the event’s sale locations.  

Last year the seventh annual yard sale-ing event featured 79 registered sale sites.

Previous years of the yard sale event featured Friday sales in addition to those occurring on the weekend.

This year’s weekend did not feature sales on Friday, in order to make the event more accessible to out-of-town visitors and local residents who are busy during the working week.

The Sanders County Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting economic activity within the county, put on the annual sales extravaganza.

Tour 200, the tourism section of SCCDC was also instrumental in planning and organizing the weekend.

Volunteers at various sites throughout the county could be found administering a University of Montana survey.

The confidential questionnaire is an effort by the event organizers to determine where customers are coming from, what they are spending money on and what visitor’s think about the event.

Many vendors were happy to see a strong showing of shoppers.

“The day started off hectic since the weather was horrible but people are still showing up,” Kristy Dieterich of Thompson Falls said on Saturday.

Though the chilly weather did not keep many shoppers away on Saturday, the second and final day of the yard sale saw an improvement in the weather.

The more pleasant temperatures brought out sizeable crowds for the conclusion of the county wide event.

SCCDC offers business education and consulting services, and manages a revolving loan fund, which makes business loans to qualifying local businesses throughout Sanders County.