Despite Downpour, High School Band Garage Sale Marches On

Given the size of the crowd, the event could've been a half-off-everything sale at a major department store.

And in some ways, that's exactly what it was: The annual Rosemount High School Band Garage Sale, which—despite the early morning downpours—attracted a long line of eager customers by 6:45 a.m. Saturday.

As usual, the popular annual event had plenty of rare finds and great buys. The high school Student Center was filled from end to end with living room furniture, clothing for all members of the family, useful household appliances, seldom-found book collections, sporting goods, musical instruments, bikes and toys still in great condition and long-playing records sure to become collector’s items (and a steal at 50 cents each). 

In the very first hour of the ninth annual fundraiser to benefit Rosemount High School Marching Band members, customers of all ages—from children with board games piled high in their arms to older folks finding collectibles for their homes—picked up items until event volunteers asked them if they needed bags. The regulars seemed to know exactly what items they wanted, and dedicated parent volunteers were right there to assist.

One of them, Kathy Mann, has been helping out with this garage sale for as long as it has been held—so many years, it seemed to her, that she had lost count. The mother of a current band member (and two others who have already graduated), she said that after all these years, she knows very well every detail of what is needed for her childrens' clothing section: How many boxes, tables and racks, for example.

She was also very familiar with the ebb and flow of the sale.

“In a couple hours, it’ll slow down and won’t look like the beehive it is right now,” she said approximately one hour into the event. “And then at about 3 p.m., it picks up again. That’s when it’s everything you can stuff into a bag. ... Boy, you should see it. It gets absolutely crazy!”

Mann was referring to a special sale within the event, when customers are able to purchase anything and everything they could fit into a Cub Foods brown grocery bag for a flat price of $3.

She recalled how, last year, a family had wheeled in an extremely large tub and filled it with all their bags during the special sale, using it to help carry their unusually huge load out.

This special markdown event began at last year’s garage sale.

“It was a big hit,” agreed Cindy Johnson in housewares, who has volunteered at the fundraiser for the past five years and is another “band mom” of two students (one currently at RHS; the other graduated and now plays at the University of Minnesota).

Johnson scanned the crowd and observed that the size of the garage sale crowd looked typical, though donations a bit were down this year. She attributed that to not having a Sunday collection day because the previous Sunday coincided with Easter, and because of the inclement weather this spring.

She also expected another big wave of customers—twice as many as in the morning –at 3 p.m., based on what occurred last year. However, this year's event marked the first time that volunteers planned to clear all the customers out at 2:45 p.m., then let them back in for the popular bag sale.

The overall event "is a really good money maker; every year, a little bit more" is raised, Mann said. “We didn’t have a trailer for along time … important for carrying the instruments and a lot of other items [for the band]. But we finally earned enough to buy a used one from another school … it was nice to join the ranks.”