By Staff
Bargain hunters, mark your calendars. This Saturday, your destination is Swan Quarter. Beginning at 8 a.m. that day, the Hyde County community will become a penny pincher’s paradise — and a treasure trove for those folks who enjoy the thrill of the hunt. And somewhere along the way, we’re sure you’ll discover the charm of this place.
Swan Quarter residents’ community yard sales day begins early Saturday morning and lasts as long as customers are shopping. It’s the second annual event of its kind.
The community yard sales day should not be dismissed just because its location may cause a thrifty shopper to have to make a bit of a drive. Swan Quarter is easy to find if one follows U.S. Highway 264, and the majority of the sales are held on Main Street, right in the heart of town.
But what makes the trip a worthwhile one is the sheer volume of sales all in one place. Modeled after community yard sales held annually in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, Saturday’s fest of frugalness will turn Swan Quarter’s Main Street into a mile-long yard sale, with at least 35 families participating. That greatly increases one’s probability of finding that rare piece of milk glass or jadeite, a collection of vintage campaign buttons or an album cover featuring James Taylor when he still had hair.
The idea behind the community yard sales day is a simple one. After several years of trying to make individual family yard sales successful in a rural setting, organizers realized they needed to make the sales attractive to shoppers from surrounding communities and neighboring counties, according to a release from the event’s planners. Knowing that yard sale aficionados would think it worth their while to drive extra miles if the opportunities for good buys were plentiful and the selections were varied, the idea of the community yard sales evolved, according to the release.
When they get there, those enthusiasts will see a community that has worked hard to recover from Hurricane Isabel, which devastated many families and rearranged the town in 2003. They will come away charmed — and with bargains to boot.