The weather will make a quick turnaround this weekend just in time for Okotoks’ community garage sale.
The forecast for Saturday is sunny and 17C after four days of rain, just in time for the 17th-annual community garage sale.
Organizer Gayle Wolf from the Western Wheel said the community garage sale is so popular people start thinking about it right after Christmas.
“We start getting phone calls in January,” Wolf said.
Two lucky people who signed up early for a garage sale will receive a $50 gift certificate for local restaurant.
“It’s for Early Bird Sign-ups by May 5th to give the garage salers a break with dinner on us (the Wheel) after a hard day of selling,” she said.
This year 99 people have signed up with the Western Wheel.
Those homes are mapped out in this issue of the Western Wheel and are available on a mobile map that can be found at www.westernwheel.com
A former longtime Western Wheel staffer started the community garage sale in 2008.
“We wanted to do a community event, just a fun thing,” Wolf said.
The garage sale typically has around 100 participants.
“Everybody loves it,” she said. “People have (garage sales) year after year. They must sell a lot of stuff.”
There are also some rural homeowners who have signed up for garage sales,” Wolf said.
People from all over southern Alberta come to Okotoks for the community garage sale, Wolf said.
“We put it on Facebook and on our website and in the regional,” she said. “People come from Calgary all the way to Fort Macleod.”
A person could spend a few hours and get to most the garage sales, Wolf said.
“It doesn’t take long to get from one side of the city to the other,” she said.
The next day, May 21, any leftover items can be left at the curb for the Town’s Curbside Giveaway from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“People can snoop through and take what they want,” Wolf said. “At the end of the day the homeowner has to clean it up. They can take it to the Salvage Centre if they want.”
This year the Okotoks Men’s Choir is holding a fundraising garage sale at the Okotoks United Church.
Richard Ellum of the men’s choir said the group loves doing community events together.
“It’s great to meet people in the community and get to know each other better,” he said.
The proceeds of their fundraiser will go towards their expenses like rentals and paying their director.
“It allows us to sing, to provide music,” he said.
