The Hespeler Village Neighbourhood Association is hoping residents find more than the next hidden treasure at its community garage sale on Saturday.
An initiative brought forth by one of its members, the annual event aims to bring people together.
“The goal was simple, to provide an opportunity for our community to engage with one another,” Amanda Horne, executive director of the HVNA, said.
“The community benefits as it's a reason for residents to sit out front of their home and engage with those that come.”
Garage sales are commonplace this time of year as people are in the midst of spring cleaning. When the suggestion was made to merge all of them into one day, many residents came forward in support, Horne says.
“Residents wanted to align their garage sales to be on one day rather than have them spread out,” she said.
“Another resident shared that they would participate in an annual community garage sale where they previously lived and it was the biggest community builder of the year. They make a point of visiting their previous city each year on the garage sale weekend.”
Participation is simple. To register a home, residents can email [email protected] and their address then gets loaded on a Google map. There’s no cost to take part.
On the day of the sale, participants can scan the QR code they receive upon registering or visit the associations website to load the map and begin their shopping.
The HVNA will also be in the community handing out paper copies of the map for those who don’t have access via a phone.
This year marks the first sale since the COVID-19 pandemic and with HVNA’s focus on connecting and supporting residents, getting people outside and interacting seemed like a good idea, Horne says.
“We hope that the it provides an opportunity to meet your neighbour,” she said.
“It's also another way for residents to engage with their neighbourhood association. It's a great time of year for that spring cleaning purge and it's fun. There's a treasure out there for everyone.”
To view the the participating locations visit hvna.ca.
