The center is two weeks into its two-month-long holiday sale, which runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 1 and has new and gently used holiday items for enthusiastic holiday decorators.
The items are saved from the center’s garage sale in June, when members of the community donate their new and gently used items to ?the center.
Hillary Detty, operations manager for the center, said the items saved range from decorations to small gifts.
“They save the best holiday items, both decorations and potential gift items: jewelry, gloves, vases, things like that,” Detty said.
The garage sale in June is in the Cook Pharmica Warehouse, which is more than 20,000 square feet. The garage sale has been going on annually for 33 years, longtime volunteer Kathy ?McFall said.
“The holiday sale is a result of having our major garage sale in June,” McFall said.
It is also much younger. It has been in existence for only about five years.
All donations are tax deductible, just like donating to Goodwill, Detty said.
Holiday sale items change constantly as items are sold, and the tables are replenished with new pieces.
The mix of antique pieces, modern jewelry and tchotchkes items the center sells is made possible by the center’s volunteers.
“It’s a committee of long-term volunteers that do fundraising for history center,” Detty said. “They’re ?very dedicated.”
It takes about nine volunteers to coordinate the holiday sale, McFall said.
Some of the most interesting pieces at this year’s sale are German mercury glass tree toppers, which run for about $200 on eBay but just $49 at the holiday sale, ?Detty said.
“It’s great for people that are college students or people that are just starting out in their own home and don’t have any of this stuff yet,” ?she said.
Donations are collected year-round for both the garage sale and holiday. Donors can coordinate with the center to either drop off donations or arrange for a pickup, McFall said.
A mix of Christmas village items can also be found on the tables from the Tower of London to a small, old-fashioned police station.
“It’s just a fun mix,” she said. “It’s never the same thing twice, obviously.”
From the first two weeks alone the sale has brought in more than $2,000, up 25 percent from last year’s sale, Detty said.
The holiday sale wasn’t always so big, McFall said. It started as a small table in the corner of the center’s education room. As the June garage sale grew, so did the holiday sale, she said.
“It was a snowball effect,” she said.
