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Tabernash church gears up for annual garage sale

Autumn Phillips
Sky-Hi Daily News
Grand County, Colorado
Byron Hetzler/Sky-Hi Daily News
ALL | Sky-Hi Daily News

The basement of the Church of the Eternal Hills is something of an ant colony during the weeks before its epic annual garage sale. Volunteers walk up and down the stairs carrying bags of donated clothes, boxes of books and piles of toys, dishes and Christmas decorations.

Among the piles are the requisite garage sale items ” VHS copies of “Buns of Steel” and “Top Gun” and lots and lots of macrame.

But there is also the unexpected ” a leopard fur coat and someone’s unwanted pair of lederhosen.



If you are a 4-year-old boy with an imagination, there is every item of clothing you need to transform yourself into a superhero.

If you are a hipster, there are lots of trucker hats with company logos for you to wear ironically.



The volunteers guess there are 50,000 items for sale at this year’s garage sale.

For the next week, the church will continue to accept donations for the sale ” scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Friday, May 8. If you have items to donate, check in at the church office first. If you have larger items to donate, call the church to arrange pick-up service at (970) 887-3603.

The Church of the Eternal Hills has been hosting this annual garage sale for more than 20 years, and it’s one of the most popular mud season activities in Grand County.

When the doors open at 4 p.m. next Friday, there will be more than 200 people waiting to get in, said volunteer Carol Schroer.

All items are “priced to sell,” said volunteer David Maddox.

Prices haven’t been raised since the garage sale began in the ’80s. According to a price sheet, towels are 25 cents, pots and pans are $2, winter coats are $2, a pair of ski pants is $2.50 and jewelry is 50 cents apiece.

Given the demographic of people donating items, the garage sale is a great place to pick up used outdoor gear.

“We have lots of hiking boots, some that look new and some that are new,” Schroer said.

Last year, the garage sale raised a record $7,500. Eighty percent of proceeds benefit the Habitat for Humanity, a program the church was instrumental in bringing to Grand County. The rest of the money goes to church programs, preschool scholarships and to cover the expenses of the garage sale itself.

The garage sale ends on Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., nonprofits are invited to go through what’s left and take anything they want for free. Groups like Mountain Family Center and the thrift stores in Kremmling and Fraser usually take advantage of the offer.

If there’s anything left at the end of the day, it’s loaded into a truck and driven down to Goodwill in Denver.

” To reach Autumn Phillips call 887-3334 ext. 19600, e-mail aphillips@skyhidailynews.com or comment on her From the Editor blog at http://www.skyhidailynews.com


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