Taking a page from the burbs, Downtown Core residents will have a chance to host a garage sale this fall.
The sale will give residents an opportunity to redirect some of their furniture, household goods, or even interesting knickknacks.
It’s being held on Sept. 10, at Historic Fire Hall No. 1, which located next to the Bow tower.
“I’ve seen lots of similar flea markets happen in larger cities, and so I thought that this would be a cool thing to bring as an annual event for downtown residents,” said Alice Lam, coordinator for events at the fire hall.
Tables, which include a 6 foot by 6 foot area, can be rented for $35. Lam said they would be waiving the table fee for anyone over 60-years of age.
She said they were hoping to have between 20 to 30 people acting as vendors for the day. So far, she said, there has been a good uptake in interest for the garage sale. The Downtown Core Neighbourhood Association will be starting their own campaign this week to get residents involved in the sale.
“We’re trying to make it more equitable for a lot of the low-income seniors that live in the neighbourhood, too. So, hopefully we’ll get a good mix of people.”
People looking to sign up can visit www.historicfirehall.com.
Creating community connections for downtown residents
Paul Fairie, principal coordinator of the Downtown Core Neighbourhood Association, said that the garage sale was one of the first big neighbour-focused events for the association.
“Because we sort of struggle a little bit with a place to have garage sales, it seemed like a great use of the firehouse.”
He said that having a garage sale makes things a little more normal for residents.
“A lot of the community associations around the city will plan things like ice skating rinks, or sometimes have a bar, and things that are a little bit harder to do it at your own house. But for us, space is one of the things that’s at a premium for residents,” Fairie said.
“Any way that we can make available a lot of the kind of normal everyday things, the happier we are.”
Lam said the garage sale will be a natural conversation starter for residents and visitors.
“I think it’s our chance to remind everybody that this downtown is made up of a large residential community, and sometimes it gets buried underneath all the central business district office towers,” she said.
“If we want to turn Calgary into a higher density, more vibrant and community based city, I think that we really do have to invest in some initiatives and opportunities for residents to meet each other.”
