THEY say one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.
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This Sunday, more than 80 homes in Jindera will open their garage doors to the public.
Organiser Leeny Mason, of St Mary’s Community Centre, said there would be many bargains on sale, from toys to fishing gear, old tools to antiques.
Now in its 20th year, the Jindera Pioneer Museum originally came up with the idea for a mass garage sale and then responsibility was handed to St Mary’s.
But Ms Mason said the event belonged to the town.
“It’s the town’s community garage sale and St Mary’s just runs it on behalf of the town,” she said.
Locals pay a small sum to register a site and then a map is sold to participants to outline where all the garage locations will be.
Ms Mason said this weekend’s crowd numbers would depend on the weather.
“You get more people if it’s a nice sunny day and get less people if it’s a bit nasty,” she said.
“But then again, sometimes we find it doesn’t matter what the weather’s like. Sometimes people say the rainiest days get the best sales.”
Pat Hayes, who runs Jindera’s post office, said the event usually attracted about 2000 people to the town.
“I think the benefit really belongs to the community in that we get 2000 people coming who have something to eat and get a cup of coffee at the bakery, buy a newspaper and so on,” he said.
“From that point of view, there’s an overall benefit to the community of having this here.”
But Mr Hayes said organisers were not fussed about attendance rates.
“We’re not trying to outdo numbers each year,” he said.
“It’s just a general community fundraiser and about raising community awareness for our local area.”
In past years, the event had even convinced some people to relocate to Jindera.
“I know I’ve had people who’ve started a post box here who initially came looking at the garage sales,” he said.
“So it’s also brought other people into the community.”
Both Ms Mason and Mr Hayes agreed the sale instilled in the town a sense of communality.
“I think that one of the really interesting things about the garage sale is that people get out and end up in their neighbour’s backyard,” Ms Mason said.
“It’s very good for the community, socially.”
Food and refreshments will be provided and Jindera’s market will run in conjunction.
Maps will be available from 8am at the Jindera School of Arts Hall.
For further information, call Ms Mason on 0419 605 566.