Last Year’s Event (Photo: QueensPost)
May 16, 2014 By Christian Murray
The sidewalks of Sunnyside Gardens are going to be dotted with yard sales tomorrow.
Residents located within the Sunnyside Gardens district are going to be peddling their wares in front of their homes between 11 am and 4 pm Saturday—in what will be the second annual Sunnyside Gardens Sidewalk Sale.
Patricia Dorfman, a co-founder of the event, said that about 100 residents set up tables last year and sold items such as clothing, books, kitchenware, tools, plants and toys.
Dorfman anticipates that a similar number of residents will participate this year.
Dorothy Morehead, a local realtor, came up with the idea last year after Community Board 2 canceled the Skillman Avenue Street fairs after a litany of complaints.
“Around here, people hated the festivals,” Morehead said at the time. “The [Skillman Avenue] stores hated it because it interfered with business; it caused huge parking problems and even the generators were a nuisance.”
Morehead said the sidewalk sale is a better and cheaper alternative to the street fairs.
The event offers other benefits as well, according to the organizers.
“Besides getting rid of stuff, it will be a festive atmosphere that brings neighbors together,” Dorfman said.
“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.”
She said participants are not required to register or pay fees—just set up their tables and sell.
Location:
Zone: from 43rd to 49th Streets, between Skillman and 39th Avenues.
Time: 11 am – 4pm
Date: Saturday, May 17 (Rain date: Sunday, May 18)
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52 Comments
upset i missed this… was casually paying attention to this site & didnt see any heads up.. didnt see a flyer (47th st) or anything from the court assoc either.. last year i was basically the only person on my block out selling.. figured this year would be better and its exactly the opposite..
not sure why anyone would have anything bad to say about tag sales in the neighborhood.. smaller groups of homes have been organizing them randomly ever since i can remember
too bad this didnt get better promotion, its a good idea & i have way too many records 😀
Agreed, this was a complete bust, and it made me angry to walk down block after block with NOTHING AT ALL. Nothing, nothing, nothing. If you try it again, do like some other communities and have people who are going to participate register, and then post a map, or addresses, of where sales will be. What a waste of time.
I agree this was a bust – I went from 49 to 45 and there were barely 5 sales, all just with kids stuff and toys. I don’t get the point of posting this when clearly there weren’t enough interested parties to generate sales. Sloppy reporting on Sunnyside Post’s part, and completely unclear what Dorfman and Morehead were talking about.
or they might not be.
I hope readers here know that most of the commenters are aspiring comedians and writers
The new Greed in Sunnyside has attracted people with overdeveloped wallets and underdeveloped souls. May Grace come upon us all.
I was just kidding. I think they are a worthy event.
I think the yard sales are better off in trailer parks…wouldn’t the poor and needy benefit from donations to charity rather then people making a few extra bucks?..The whole idea is distasteful and disgraceful
Very generous of DoMo to donate. Can we have another article. Whatever happened to the op-eds on Sunday? Dorothy how about one? What about you Celtic Bark or Pat Dorfman?
Dorothy, hope I don’t sound ungrateful. Children’s books are always needed. Please feel fre to email me at anitahenn11@gmail.com if you would like to donate them. I could pick them up somewhere. Many thanks!
That’s so nice of you, Dorothy. :). Believe it or not, I was looking for hula hoops, any kind of toys/games/activities to keep th kids busy. I get great stuff at Deals. If anybody ever wants to get rid of anything, PLEASE feel free to drop off stuff at the Queensbridge Early Childhood Center, 38-11 27th St, LIC, Atten: Anita. Same block as the Sheraton Hotel. Thanks!
@ Teacher I’m sorry we had so few vendors this year–we got off to a late start. I have a box of childrens’s books I would be happy to give you for your students.
Next story please.
Although we set up late. there were rushes all day long. We started breaking down at 5pm, because people were buying, but didn’t really leave until after 6pm. People were still looking.
Sorry, Preschool Teacher, that your experience was bad. Ours was good. And we met a lot of nice people.
Actually the ecomony is on a roll, remember those deficts?? We’re running surpluses now, and big ones!! People don’t need to sell their crap on their front lawn. this “bust” is actually great news!!
This would never happen Britain!!!!!
Too much apathy with the home owners…. no one cares in our gardens.. lack of interest… very dysfunctional group of homeowners…just a few of us… what a great day.. we had the weather with us…maybe next year it will be better… or lets do it all on skillman ave… and get the food traffice from the park with their sat… program going on….
What a bust this was!!!! I read about it on here, went to the bank, got some cash, and headed to all the streets between Skillman and 39th Avenues. There was NOTHING!!! This was at 11:30am. Folks should have been at least setting up! If you’re going to do something, DO IT!!!
Exactly, Celtic Bark. Yesterday I sold a child’s London Fog raincoat for $3, a set of girls thermal underwear still in its unopened package for $5, a new coffeemaker, also in its unopened package, for $10. My 8-year-old granddaughter worked with me and made $37 of her own. But the money is less important than getting items which may be of value to others out of boxes and closets and back into use. Everything that was not sold will be donated to charity,
Recyling goods is good for the planet.
To all the snobs who think yard sales are trashy:
They’re not, they are perfectly respectable events where middle class people sell a few things that their neighbors might have some use for. It’s fun, it’s a great way to socialize and recycle things that otherwise would take up space in a landfill.
It seems there are people here with a Beverly Hills/Upper East Side attitude without the income to match.
Im so happy to see the haughty pretentious attitude of the new hipsters finally being reflected. I was the first to tell you about these people and their attitude. You mocked me, now you are witnessing it all. people who have come into this neighborhood looking down at others, looking down at community attempts to unite, looking down and people whom they think have less money.
I’m purchasing .5 acres of prime SSG real estate to build my 135 floor “Trump Gardens” with a Whole Foods AND Mac Store on the first floor. Once construction begins there will be no more of these sales. Imagine how this pile of muck will look reflected off the beautiful smooth black glass of my Tower.
While I think we can applaud members of the community for trying to organize something- this yard sale effort needs to stop.
It is tired, old and makes the neighborhood appear trashy. Yard sales are gross.
Couldn’t agree more with the newbie.
If the goal is to keep people from coming here to invest and build the neighborhood have more yard sales with people selling complete garbage in front of their house.
Anyone who came by with the possible intent of moving here probably saw people selling used jeans on folding tables and ran the other way.
lack of flyers (my fault) made this year not a big success, but the sunnyside artists snack sale to fund postcards on skillman at 46 was a hit and the weather flawless. thank you, everyone. next year: more notice, we promise!
you 99 percenters with your yard sales!! LOL!!
Maybe the kids can sell the stuff the have stolen from their neighbors
@ Sunnyside Newbie
This neighborhood was built for the working class, certainly not the upper middle class. Recent changes are pricing out some people who’ve lived here for generations, but it takes more than a few nice street lamps to get from going working class to upper middle class.
Ari Fink2 please stop using my name. I know that I am viewed as a right wing fanatic and sometime bigot but those are my views and it is a free country. I am a recovering alcoholic and have had a very limited sex life. Expressing my opinions in the Sunnyside Post is one of my few outlets in life.
God bless.
@ really. We do expect people from out of the immediate area to come and shop. The schlepping Pat meant was the vendors’.
@ anonymous You would have to get the permission of a property owner to sell in front of his/her property. If you’re outside of Sunnyside Gardens, I would suggest putting up some balloons of a banner to call attention to your table. You could also try setting up near the park on 43rd St. near Skillman Ave.; with the farmers market there on Saturdays, you would get a lot of foot traffic.
@ Pirates and Ari Fink2. Thank you!
No schlepping? Sounda like you’re not expecting ‘outsiders’ at your yard,sales?
Celtic Bark makes sense most of the time. Woof. I also like Dorothy Morehead. You go girl.
Ari Fink is an idiot. Everyone of his rants are full of sexist or racist sentiments.
I am new to this area and I find this to be very tacky and degrading to the neighborhood, when you think of upper middle class tacky yard sales do not come to mind
From what I understand it is legal to sell things in front of your own house.
BEWARE OF BED BUGS!!!!
A Sunnyside tradition that always brings the neighborhood together. For those who say this yard sale is stupid, then you people have no respect. It’s good to support your neighborhood and your neighbors. I’ll definitely stop by and shop for some books and plants.
If you are not a resident of Sunnyside Gardens but live in Sunnyside can you still set up a table?
If you don’t live in Sunnyside Gardens but live in Sunnyside can you still set up a table?
@Dorothy
I’m so glad to hear that–I’m actually down a few blocks in the low 40s, which would explain why I haven’t seen anything around.
I might also check in with some of the bars and restaurants to see if they’d allow you to put up some info; this is the sort of thing I’d expect to see up at Dog & Duck, Claret, etc. Apologies if you did and I just missed them!
If you do get a posting up here early enough next year, I’ll definitely check in with you to see if I might help put up some flyers down in my neck of the woods!
Neighbors be sure to fill out a 1099 form after the sale…it’s very important that we finance EBT cards and anchor babies in our diverse and tolerant neighborhood..
@ Pirates. I sent information to the court associations a few weeks ago and distributed 160 flyers door-to-door on 45th, 46th and 47th Streets. There was an ad in the Woodside Herald. Next year we’ll start earlier and wider to get the word out.
Last year a friend of mine and her husband furnished their baby nursery with gently used furniture they bought at the sale. A neighbor sold a refrigerator and an air conditioner; another her boys’ outgrown toys. It’s not junk, folks. As for blocking the sidewalks, that only happens when a number of people are at a table. The tables are placed on the tree lawn between the sidewalk and the street. Sellers are advised to leave large items inside and have photographs available of those items.
I’ll be auctioning off my collection of signed LCD Soundsystem concert posters if anyone happens to be on 45th Street. I got Caffe Bene to sponsor my sale! Skinny lattes are on me!!!
Yay, really looking forward to this! We had a great time last year, met a lot of our neighbors, and bought some cool stuff.
I have to ask, though: Why isn’t this being publicized more/earlier/better?
I don’t check SSP every day, and as I haven’t seen a single sign in the neighborhood, I’d have missed this event entirely if I hadn’t happened to check in here today.
For next year, posting here with a few days’ notice and perhaps some signs in local businesses in the weeks leading up to it might increase attendance. I’d love for this to continue annually into the future, but it will only work if people are aware of it!
Ugh, this is so annoying!!! they only sell junk at these things, no better than 99 cents stores!
Happy to hear the street festivals have ended. You think anyone will be selling tube socks?
Thanks for big heads up Sunnyside Post. Would have been great to know about this with a little more notice than just one day.
I find this yard sale a nuisance. The tables take up too much space on a sidewalk that already is cramped.
@Ari Fink2
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
Probably mostly junk that they are trying to get rid of. I’ll be watching the Rangers game.
Excellent idea. I love how they avoid all the bureaucracy and just take the initiative. Best of luck to all involved.