I belong to the Armidale North branch of Rotary and am on the branch's executive as organiser of the youth directorate. Our branch often attempts new money making enterprises to fund our charitable activities, and on Sunday 8th September - a little over a week ago - we held our first car boot sale at the Armidale Showground in partnership with the Showground Trust.
Basically, we invited anyone in Armidale and its surrounding districts to pay us a small fee to come to the show-ground with wares they wished to sell or even give away and distribute them either from a car boot or small fold-away table or any other merchandising contraption. Club members helped with the set-up in a variety of ways and provided both breakfast and morning eats culminating in sausage sandwiches before the lunch-time closure of the event. Another food supplier produced some rather good ice-cream, which I also tried. So we had a Rotary 'chef' to do the cooking.
We intended this first sale to be a try-out of the idea and it worked quite well in the sense that we made a profit, part of which was shared with the Showground Trust. They were happy too, since the facility we used is mainly used for infrequent agricultural events. It['s our intention to hold this car-boot sale once a month on the third Sunday. The timing means that Armidale now has Sunday commercial events every week throughout the month, except perhaps those months with 5 Sundays. The first and third Sundays are the popular farmers' markets down on the Creeklands. And the last Sunday sees the Markets is the Mall, where suppliers deliver much more varied goods than the farmers' markets. Let's hope for our sake that selling or otherwise disposing of surplus household items also becomes a must-see event.
If Armidale's households match ours in having a large surplus of unused items we should do well. Tome will tell.
You can see from these pictures that the large open-sided 'shed' where we held the sale was ideal for the purpose. It had lots of light and space for participants and also provided good cover should it have rained. The latter is extremely rare at the moment as we're experiencing probably the worst drought in the last two centuries ... and remember that Armidale wasn't settled until the 1830s!
The goods on sale included everything from clothing, machinery and equipment, foods, household goods and so on. I, for example, bought a dozen guaranteed cage-free eggs!
And this stall had a lolly distribution machine at the near end, which rather interested me. However, the fact that we're crowded with stuff eventually put me off the idea.
Here's our Secretary, Joyce, seeking to raise interest in Rotary ideals, and you might notice the BBQ behind her where a local medic, who shall remain nameless, practiced his skills at cooking eggs and sausages.
And, finally, here's the quite popular ice-dream stall.
Let's hope this turns into a regular event for Armidale and district households! Remind me to take a selfie the next time around!
AS
Basically, we invited anyone in Armidale and its surrounding districts to pay us a small fee to come to the show-ground with wares they wished to sell or even give away and distribute them either from a car boot or small fold-away table or any other merchandising contraption. Club members helped with the set-up in a variety of ways and provided both breakfast and morning eats culminating in sausage sandwiches before the lunch-time closure of the event. Another food supplier produced some rather good ice-cream, which I also tried. So we had a Rotary 'chef' to do the cooking.
We intended this first sale to be a try-out of the idea and it worked quite well in the sense that we made a profit, part of which was shared with the Showground Trust. They were happy too, since the facility we used is mainly used for infrequent agricultural events. It['s our intention to hold this car-boot sale once a month on the third Sunday. The timing means that Armidale now has Sunday commercial events every week throughout the month, except perhaps those months with 5 Sundays. The first and third Sundays are the popular farmers' markets down on the Creeklands. And the last Sunday sees the Markets is the Mall, where suppliers deliver much more varied goods than the farmers' markets. Let's hope for our sake that selling or otherwise disposing of surplus household items also becomes a must-see event.
If Armidale's households match ours in having a large surplus of unused items we should do well. Tome will tell.
You can see from these pictures that the large open-sided 'shed' where we held the sale was ideal for the purpose. It had lots of light and space for participants and also provided good cover should it have rained. The latter is extremely rare at the moment as we're experiencing probably the worst drought in the last two centuries ... and remember that Armidale wasn't settled until the 1830s!
The goods on sale included everything from clothing, machinery and equipment, foods, household goods and so on. I, for example, bought a dozen guaranteed cage-free eggs!
And this stall had a lolly distribution machine at the near end, which rather interested me. However, the fact that we're crowded with stuff eventually put me off the idea.
Here's our Secretary, Joyce, seeking to raise interest in Rotary ideals, and you might notice the BBQ behind her where a local medic, who shall remain nameless, practiced his skills at cooking eggs and sausages.
And, finally, here's the quite popular ice-dream stall.
AS
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