‘It brings people together.’ Foxdale Village garage sale is back after a two-year hiatus

After a two-year hiatus, Foxdale Village Retirement Community’s semi-annual garage sale is back and bigger than before.

The sale, at 500 E. Marylyn Ave., opens to staff and immediate family on Friday but will be open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

The sale is run by residents and volunteers, with all the proceeds going to the residence program to help pay for entertainment events and clubs.

Ellie Klees, a resident of Foxdale, said the spring sale raises anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000.

“I was just blown away when I saw this for the first time and how much money we raised, I just couldn’t believe it,” Klees said.

Items are donated by Foxdale residents, former residents, family and even community members throughout the year in anticipation of the sale. This year had a lot more items than usual, according to chairs Linda and Ike Rosensteel. At one point Foxdale had to stop accepting donations because they had run out of space.

Although raising money for programs is an important part of the sale, the sense of community is what gets so many residents involved.

“It brings people together,” Ike Rosensteel said. “You get to meet people who come in or the new residents.”

Although the Rosensteels have been residents for four years, they’ve been familiar with the sale for much longer.

“We lived in Pennsylvania Furnace and we used to come and look around,” Linda Rosensteel said. “We went from customers to chairs.”

Items for sale are organized into 20 different booths run by a captain, a resident who is in charge of organizing volunteers, pricing and arranging items. Everything from furniture, cookware, art, electronics, even a hospital bed can be found at the sale this year.

For Glen Blume, the captain of the furniture section, pricing items is about balancing demand and quality.

“We want to set a price so that things sell and we don’t have to pack them back here,” Blume said. “We try to price things on the lower end so we make sure we sell them.”

But even the items that don’t sell are put to good use — either a resident will hold onto them, they’ll go into storage for the next sale or be donated to charity shops and organizations.

Foxdale Village will hold the second of its semi-annual sales this fall.