The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

It’s time for the annual rummage sale! Each year the Big Sandy Medical Guild sponsors a rummage sale and pie eating event with all revenue benefiting the Big Sandy Medical Center. It’s the awesome support of the community that makes it all happen.

The seeds of this fabulous event were first sown in 1961, when local ladies began working as volunteers with the Havre Guild. When the Big Sandy Medical Center came into being in 1963 the efforts were redirected back to this community. Ever since, Guild members and volunteers along with the essential contributions of the community have made this event a major source of revenue and equipment in support of the Big Sandy area’s medical needs. Generous donations are also made each year by the Lippard/Clawiter Foundation.

The combined efforts of these resources have resulted in essential contributions through the maintenance and expansion of the Medical Center’s broad influence. Here’s some of what last year’s sale helped obtain for the Medical Center: a microscope for the lab, a double wall oven for the kitchen, a Kitchen-Aid mixer, patio flowers for the summer, Roho cushions for resident chairs, and more.

The members of the Guild work long and hard each year to make this event a reality -- but you know what? The real hero in this scenario is you. None of this would be possible without local folks digging deep into their personal hordes of rummage and bringing it to the Town Hall on Main Street during set-up time (Monday 9/26, Tuesday 9/27 and Wednesday 9/28 between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm). Drop your wares off at the back door during these hours where our cheerful volunteers will help you unload your goods. All sorts of things are needed – clothes, appliances, housewares, toys, linens, shoes, books, phonograph records, furniture and best of all – miscellaneous! You will see the friendly faces of folks like president Amy Sibra, Marilyn Swanson, Reggie Jappe, Barb Dixon, Joleen Williams, Sharon Robertson, Dolly Pursley, Pam Davidson, Jessica Sietsema, Steve & Stacey Sibra from Seattle will be lending a hand and many others, all ready to take your treasures. Cora Lee Welty, chairman of the clothing department, follows in the footsteps of past mainstays like Clara Cooke, Evelyn LaBuda and Ruth Pegar, just to name a few.

During set-up days everyone is welcome to come and help even if they only have an hour or two. It’s fun and rewarding. Dottie Trepina and Midge Edwards and Laura Sheehy ran Housewares for years, and there was always plenty of laughs and good times.

Dianna Webster is in charge of the raffle, and she says “We need raffle items!” Raffle items will be on display at the bank prior to the sale, and tickets will be available in advance at most area businesses. You need not be present to win. If you have raffle items to contribute please call Dianna, Lil Foussard or Mary Gibbons.

And of course pies are needed for the other half of this event: the pie and coffee sale which generally equals the rummage as a source of revenue. So get to baking!

The other half of your job is to come back on Thursday 9/29 (8 am to 5 pm) and Friday 9/30 (9 am to 3 pm – “box sale” day) and buy, buy, buy! Incredibly reasonably priced rummage will be overflowing the tables and racks, awaiting your discovery! Once you have worked up an appetite (or if you arrive with one), some of the best pies in the western United States are there for your consumption. The sale is an excellent chance to visit with friends you haven’t seen for a while, as well as watch while Robin Pearson attempts to break his own gut-busting record for most pie consumed during a two-day period. It is a spectacle you won’t want to miss! The raffle will be held on Friday at 3 pm and remaining pies will go on sale for half price on Friday at 3:30 pm.

Every year Randy Beaudette helps. He hauls over the lumber that is loaned so generously by Big Sandy Supply – just a couple of the community members who help out to make the sale a reality. Robin Pearson puts up the signs along the highways.

Any Good Samaritans willing to help with the cleanup will be generously compensated with the gratitude of the hard-working Guild members.

Each year more items are badly needed for the Medical Center and hopefully many will be purchased with the proceeds from this year’s event. These needs include more beds and an X-ray machine. This community should be proud of the good that this event has been able to do (for more than fifty years now). The benefits will no doubt continue so long as the town of Big Sandy joins with the Medical Center, the Guild and the Lippard/Clawiter Foundation to continue to provide these essential services to Big Sandy. See you there!