Lauren Harchut
Staff Writer
Vendors filled the Bonita High School parking lot Saturday with jewelry, toys, clothes and furniture during La Verne’s first Fall Community Yard Sale.
The event was held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Every spring for the past five years, the La Verne Chamber of Commerce, the City of La Verne and Bonita High School have hosted a popular community yard sale.
After great success at spring sales, they decided it was time to add a fall sale.
La Verne resident Susan Taj has participated in the yard sale since its beginning and is now joined by her husband, Arif Taj. He promoted his business Sports Clips, which opened almost a year ago on Foothill Boulevard in La Verne.
“We’re here selling some of our personal belongings but I’m here mostly promoting and collecting funds for our [Sports Clips] fundraiser, Help a Hero, where we collect donations and 100 percent of the proceeds go to scholarship programs for veterans,” Arif Taj said.
During the previous community yard sales, clubs, organizations and sports teams made up most of the vendors, raising awareness and money to support charities.
This fall, most vendors were individual families taking the opportunity to get rid of their excess belongings around the house and promote their businesses and boutiques.
“Everything we’re selling is our used and cleaned clothes. It’s our first time doing this yard sale. We just normally have them at our house,” seller Jennifer Ray of La Verne said.
During the year, home owners are required to maintain a yard sale permit to be allowed to sell out of their home.
The Community Yard Sale makes it easier on residents because they can sell without obtaining a permit.
Residents also enjoyed that they did not have to walk or drive from house to house because all vendors were in one place.
“I think they should do this more often. It’s fun to have everyone around and easier for buyers because they just have to go to one place,” Ray said.
Community Yard Sale regular and La Verne resident Eileen Banda is usually at the yard sale selling personal items, but she recently started her own boutique called City Dreams.
Banda sold clothing from her boutique in her booth at the yard sale to promote her business
“We started a boutique online and out of my home so we’re here to promote with a lot of samples and we’re taking down emails” Banda said.
The yard sale started at 8 a.m., and even though the day started off slow, business increased throughout the morning and the lot grew almost as busy as it is during the spring sale.
“The thing is, during fall, people are going to soccer games and stuff so they don’t necessarily have time to come to the sale,” Susan Taj said.
Arif Taj said he thinks the spring sale starts off busier because it gets lighter earlier in the morning in the spring because of the time change, which makes it easier for residents to be up and shopping by 8 a.m.
As of now the Community Yard Sale will continue to happen twice a year to help La Verne meet a difficult state waste diversion requirement by keeping items out of local landfills.
At the end of the day, the event provides ways to donate or recycle any unwanted items that were not sold during the sale.
Admission and parking are free to attend the sale.
Those interested in participating in the spring 2016 sale, can rent a single space for $30 or two spaces for $40.
Lauren Harchut can be reached at lauren.harchut@laverne.edu.
Lauren Harchut