It was a perfect day. Not too hot, although some would say if you sit outside in the sun all day, it doesn't matter what the temperature is, it gets hot. And if you saw any of the 22 garage sale participants on Sunday, many of them had sunburns.
There were ten sites on the north side of Big Sandy and 12 sites on the south side. I was sitting in front of the Mountaineer when an older gentleman approached the sale from The Grocery Store. He bought a small item and then asked if there were any other garage sales in town that day. I looked at him, smiled, and told him there were 22 garage sales. His eyes got huge, his head went back, he smiled big, and he took a map. I'm assuming he went to everyone.
It appeared the crowds were good. There were many shoppers from Great Falls and at least two from Billings. Hill county license plates were everywhere. There were big-ticket items, and large pieces of furniture I saw being loaded up into the back of pickups.
One homeowner said, "I'm just flabbergasted! You can't believe how much junk we got rid of. It's amazing how many people came to town for this thing!" Ok, maybe, but it wasn't all junk. I was at one site and was admiring the stain glass windows in his house. He told me he found the four windows leaning up next to a dumpster. Only one had a small crack. Sometimes, you can find incredible finds just what you were looking for at a garage sale. And let's be honest, a lot of times we are only buying just another project.
If you had wanted to start baking cakes, there were at least 24 cake molds for sale at one site.
You could have purchased both if you ever wanted to learn to play the flute or a trumpet.
There was a three-generation family sale, where everything on sale only cost you 50 cents. "I want to get rid of everything."
I was impressed with some home-made sourdough bread made by Drew Shanafelt, manager of the Oil Barn. He is thinking about starting a bakery to sell the sourdough bread. He doesn't have a name in mind yet, and he doesn't have a lot of capacity, but if you'd like some great sourdough bread, contact him on Facebook and order some. It's delicious, some of the best sourdough I've eaten. It is fresh milled and fresh-baked with four different grains; Kamut, spelt, rye, and hard red spring wheat.
The Big Sandy Swim Team sold taco's in a bag downtown in front of the Senior Center. The swim team placed picnic tables up outside so people could enjoy the day. They were also selling snow cones, which they probably sold a lot of later in the afternoon.