This may be the final year of the PIGYS

To The Eagle:

The 12th annual Puget Island Garage and Yard Sale (P.I.G.Y.S.) is approaching rapidly. It’s the last weekend in June, which this year falls on the the 28th and 29th with Sunday the 30th optional. It’s been a great run for the past decade with enthusiastic neighbors and Island businesses and organizations (churches, Norse Hall, Farm Market, VFW.) We usually have around 50 vendors and draw about 500 carloads of customers. The cars all leave loaded with Island treasures and the participants end the weekend tired, happy and pretty much sold out, which makes it a rewarding experience for organizers. But this may be its last year.

For the past three years we have been searching for someone to take over the operation of the sale, but so far, no luck. The basic framework is all in place, so the run-up mainly entails placing newspaper and internet ads, distributing posters and flyers throughout the lower Columbia Region from Portland to the coast, and collecting the modest $10 fee from the participants. This comes close to covering the expenses. We usually lose a few bucks, and the couple of years we have had a little excess we have spent it on a cleanup party for the little park by the ferry landing. We usually have about half a dozen freeloaders who have their sale without paying, plus a couple of organizations on the mainland who have chosen to piggyback on our advertising. If these folks would be honest and pay, we’d always be in the black.

The Brawn family prints and distributes the sale map, which costs about $300. They get a little back for advertising on the map, but have absorbed the rest as a loss leader for Sargasso Sea Antiques. They no longer own that store, but are going to do the map for this one last year.

With the economy recovering a bit, we’re anticipating a record-breaking sale this year. Maybe we’ll also get a knight in shining armor to take over the sale. If not, we’ll just thank everyone involved for a dozen good years, and bid farewell.

Dean Wesner

Puget Island