When an event claims to be the largest of its kind in the world, the nation or, perhaps, the Pacific Northwest, it’s reasonable to be a little skeptical.
That attitude, however, would be wasted on the Northwest’s Largest Garage Sale, which took place Saturday at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.
Inside, a sea of people weaved between countless antique booths, stopping along the way to peruse, inspect and barter. Outside, event staff directed traffic and organized a quickly overflowing parking lot — a scene that, at first glance, could’ve easily been mistaken for crowds descending on a stadium at the Olympic Games.
“Is this the biggest garage sale? It totally is,” said Amelia Bambam, who, with her friend Crystal Sneddon, was selling a collection of clothing, furniture, and old movies and other DVDs. “We got here 10 minutes before we were supposed to, and there was a line of people already lined up around the whole building. It was crazy.”
After the initial euphoria of the sheer amount of occupied space at the event wears off, an appreciation for the attention to detail and nostalgia sets in.
Look to the left, and there’s jewelry, china, glassware, Star Wars paraphernalia, ceramic fish. To the right: mini-terrariums, baseball cards, old highway signs, cool rocks, cool sticks.
There’s truly not a single decade, trend or niche interest that goes unrepresented. Spend an entire day drifting from booth to booth, and you still might not see it all.
“Every time I come, I buy. You can’t help it,” said Stephanie West, a seller-turned-tempted buyer at Saturday’s show. “It’s the hunt; it’s finding the treasure. That’s what it’s all about.”
The life of a seller
Garage sales and antique shows often carry a reputation of featuring lots of old, unusable stuff with little previous purpose other than collecting dust in your grandparents’ attic. That stereotype, sellers and buyers alike said, is played out and ignores the wealth of weirdness available at shows like Saturday’s.
“We’ve wanted to sell for a few years. We’ve always loved going thrifting and finding stuff,” said Bambam, who, with Sneddon, was participating as a first-time seller at Saturday’s event. Their collection was comprised of finds as buyers and inherited stuff from parents, some of whom downsized their home recently and needed to get rid of old things.
“We only have so much space. Being able to turn stuff over for low prices and giving someone that real, historical, garage-style feel is a really great feeling,” said Sneddon. The two longtime friends hope to use the money raised from Saturday’s sale to help fund a trip to Europe together.
Andy Miller, another nearby seller, has been building his collection since 2015 by buying storage units at auction — a competitive passion that many might know from the hit television series “Storage Wars.”
“I got serious in 2019,” said Miller, who’s in his fifth year selling at the event. “It’s like gambling when you’re buying, and then it’s like Christmas morning when you open it all up.”
Niche collections
Among the most common items sold throughout Saturday’s event were Hot Wheels cars: small, metal toy cars often based on real models.
“These cars are really hot right now,” said Travis Zimmerly, who boasted a collection of hundreds of Hot Wheels cars, each neatly organized by era, style and price. “Everyone wants the new stuff, but I’m more into collecting the old stuff.”
Zimmerly said he began collecting Hot Wheels cars as a hobby in 1996 with his brother. Growing up, he was really into cars — normal-sized ones, that is. Early Saturday afternoon, he said he had just sold a single Nissan Skyline — a Japanese car — for $80.
“The prices go up and down like the stock market on these things,” Zimmerly said.
He and other sellers applauded event hosts and organizers who, despite Saturday’s crowds, were able to seamlessly help them set up and prepare.
“This thing is huge. They did a really good job of getting us here and getting signs everywhere,” Bambam and Sneddon said. “We’re definitely on board for doing this again.”
