Scenes from Saturday’s Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale, captured by Peter Lindner. (To enlarge the photo display, start it, then click the embiggen symbol in the lower right corner. To get back to redbankgreen, hit your escape key)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
One of the rarest finds of Saturday’s Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale was not one that could be put in a bag or loaded up in the trunk. It wasn’t for sale, either.
It was on Maple Avenue, at the home of Pat Kears, who was selling a slew of household items with her family, which in itself is quite ordinary.
But “You’re not going to come across a yard sale that has a mother, a daughter, a granddaughter and all her grandchildren,” said Michelle Picold, Kears’s granddaughter. “We’re unique.”
The annual sale, now in its third year, has very much become a family affair, and not just for Kears, but many in town.
For the third year in a row, Dorothy Balacco set up shop with her sister outside their Hudson Avenue home selling a yard’s worth of clothes. They usually sell only half of it, but it’s something they look forward to each September, even if it’s to lend a helping hand to travel-weary shoppers, Balacco said.
“Some guy came by with a map and said, ‘Where am I?'” she said, laughing. “People lose track.”
The yard sale can also test one’s will. Although most come to sniff out as many bargains as possible, there are those that have to keep it under control — especially the ones on bike.
George Hetz, who lives in Lincroft, rode his bicycle to the sale with a large blue shoulder bag that was starting to fill up by early afternoon with DVDs and books.
“I’m trying not to find too much stuff,” he said. “I’m moving, and I’m having my own yard sale.”
Of course, some deals are too good to resist.
On the corner of South Street and Bergen Place, Rob Lowe talked about the pitfalls of the yard sale, when the seller becomes a buyer. Each year he and his wife, Karen, sell off most of their merchandise, which creates a little more room in their home.
“But you know what happens, I’ll take a walk and start buying stuff,” he said.
Then Karen came over to him with a portable lawn sprinkler and asked if he needed one. He said yes.
“See what I mean?” he said.
