When the doors opened — promptly at 8 a.m. Saturday — more than 100 people flowed through the giant door and quickly scattered throughout the rows and tables of items for sale. The 20th annual Trash 'n' Treasure sale had begun.
Rows of bicycles, furniture and exercise equipment; heaped tables of clothing and bedding; stacks of books; stereos; all manner of appliances; kitchenware; shoes; artwork; music albums and more awaited — and the best bargains went to the early birds. Conversations, the sounds of glass and wood items being moved and sorted through, and the ka-ching of cash registers soon lightly echoed in the high ceilinged-Blue Pavilion at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.
Elva Roberts of Centralia may not have been the first person in line this year — you get trampled there, she said — but she did make the first purchases of the day, hauling four plastic lawn chairs and an empty picture frame, costing a total of $5, out to her car just a few minutes after opening before heading back inside to look some more.
"I usually make about 10 trips," Roberts said, adding she's attended the sale for about the last decade.
"It's got everything from flower pot holders to buttons for a jacket. You can find anything in that building. But you have to know how to look," she said.
Roberta Pringle, Chehalis, went home with a hedge clipper, a recliner, a ceiling fan, a chandelier, a candle, some bedding and a piece of bakeware.
"I've been doing this for years because my kids were in the schools," Pringle said. "Even if I get things I don't use, I figure it's going for a good cause. My kids are 34 and 27 now, so I've been doing this for a long time."
Not only does she think it a good cause, but it's also fun, she said
Patty Butler of Mossyrock came looking for dog statues. Her husband Don wanted to find a computer. They both thought they'd found what they sought, along with a fair number of other items. They took turns standing watch over their ever increasing stack.
Don said they'd been coming for about nine years. It's a good sale, he said.
"You name it, it's here, pretty much," he said. "I'm usually one of the first ones here, but we were running late today. But it's OK, it wasn't raining or anything."
At the T-N-T Diner, sale items were edible and ranged from 11 dozen doughnuts (sold singly) to hot dogs to fruit to coffee to donated bake sale items.
W.F. West High School students Tricia Bickford and Rob Lintott, two band members staffing the diner, described the first hour as chaos.
"The doors opened and the people just whooshed in," said Bickford, a senior.
"It's really scary, watching that many people come bolting in," junior Lintott added.
The giant sale, sponsored by the Chehalis Music Boosters, raises money for music students' travel, such as the band's Washington to Washington trip next year, or the choir's upcoming participation in a competition in Salt Lake City.
"I know students who've made several hundred dollars off this, depending on how much they put in," Bickford said.
Volunteers do all the work, Lintott said.
"They've been working since Wednesday to get all this put together, all the organizers and volunteers. This is a strictly volunteer event and they put a lot of work into it," he said.
"My wife and I do eBay and we generally look for toys and games," said Jeff Nation, Olympia. "We have four kids and they usually tell us what's hot. … She goes to the toy section and I go for the appliances, mostly the small stuff."
Sally Kopp, also Olympia, also does eBay. What she found Saturday was mostly books — books about orchids, illustrated Christmas carols, calligraphy and other topics she thought would sell, she said.
"I look for inexpensive, quality items," she said. "The trick is to find things that are clean and timeless and cheap."
She also found a floral print for herself, she added.
Mike Kennedy, Chehalis, said he wasn't looking for anything in particular Saturday.
"We always come to it, every year," he said. "Our kids were in band."
"It's a good (sale). You've got to hunt around, but there's some good bargains. The thing is, you want to be here right at 8 o'clock," he said.
About a half-hour before final closing Sunday afternoon, a different kind of bargain hunting was well underway. Half-price discounts went into effect at around 1:30 p.m.
Beth Toma, who co-chaired this year's sale with her husband Gabe, said the sale was going really well. Students made an estimated $12,000 plus Saturday, she added.
She thanked the people who helped put together and work the sale.
"This would not have happened without the effort of a lot of volunteers. Adults and students put in a lot of hours," she said.
Julie M. Graham covers education and religion for The Chronicle. She may be reached by e-mail at jgraham@chronline.com or by calling 807-8232.
