Bargain hunters flock to Lucknow for annual village-wide yard sale
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
May 6 marked the date of Lucknow’s annual town-wide yard sale - a celebration of all things secondhand. It was a sunny Saturday, and people came out in droves from all over in search of something they didn’t even know that they needed. Early birds arrived slowly, but it wasn’t long until cars, bikes and buggies lined the streets.
Dozens of homes participated in the event across town, each one selling its own assortment of surplus memories for unbeatable prices. At one home, lucky lookers could find a never-worn Japanese t-shirt depicting two cats doing karaoke for three dollars, at another, stacks of Monopoly games throughout the ages told the story of late-stage capitalism, all while costing savvy investors just a fraction of their value. A few enterprising local artists were also out, selling original works of art alongside their mostly complete sets of vintage dishes.
Other hot spots saw pristine antique furniture rubbing shoulders with objectively useless junk, all selling with the equal heat of two competing stacks of tasty flapjacks.
Interested in creepy old rocking horses? Turns out this town was full of them, and every single one of these dead-eyed fillies found a new home on Saturday! Let’s hope at least some of these cursed equine beauties have relocated to other townships far, far away.
For those who don’t dig on secondhand grooves, there was also a sidewalk sale of new, discounted wares from the businesses on Campbell Street, as well as out front of Henderson Rona on Havelock Street.
Peckish perusers could buy snacks and cold drinks from intrepid youngsters set up in strategic locations throughout the town. Lucknow United Church also had a rummage sale with a baked goods table, as well as offering up hot dogs from a grill that saw more than its fair share of tube steaks that day.
There is an ebb and flow to the comings and goings of any good yard sale, and writ town-wide, that tide becomes an undeniable ecosystem. First come the early buyers - well-seasoned alpha bargain hunters feasting on the lion’s share of wares. They are followed by gaggles of haggling hyenas, who gnaw at meaty bargain bones throughout the main part of the day. Finally, the day closes with essential scavengers using any means necessary to pick clean the carcass of the sale, filling wagons, carts and bags with whatever scraps are left in the afternoon sun; a grisly, fitting finale to a great sale.
In the end, the Lucknow town-wide yard sale isn’t just about haggling with your next door neighbour over his gently-used tube socks - it’s also about getting to know neighbours you never knew you needed to know, all while gently judging them as you poke through their discardables.