By Chris Carroll
As Spring takes hold in Central Florida, a bi-annual event has become a mainstay for Orlando residents. The day starts early and quiet, but over the course of a few hours thousands of shoppers will make their way to Avalon Park in search of deals and lucky finds.
For over seven years Avalon Park has been home to Orlando’s Biggest Yard Sale, the largest community even of its type in Central Florida. The numbers are hard to dispute. The sale is held twice a year, in March and October, and includes hundreds of families, each holding a sale at their home. Tens of thousands of items change hands, generating cash for charities and local families struggling in a difficult economy.
Residents with full closets and boxes of old toys aren’t the only ones who benefit, though. Local businesses see an uptick in traffic, and charities are recipients of some of this money. For instance, many families hold sales to raise funds for school functions or charitable organizations, and Goodwill arranges to bring trucks in for residents who want to have their un-sold items picked up. Some groups even buy truckloads of baby and maternity items to donate to women’s shelters.
The hub of this activity is the sale’s website, AvalonYardSale.com, which also functions as a free classifieds site. As families start signing up weeks before the sale, they get listed on an interactive Google Map, with an address and a list of items they’re selling, as general or specific as they choose. This helps visitors plan what parts of the neighborhood they’ll visit first.
And visit they will. Advertising and social networking outreach ensures that shoppers drive from as far away as Daytona or Tampa, establishing the Avalon Park community yard sale as the biggest in Central Florida.
There are only 2 requirements for participation: residency anywhere in the greater Avalon area, and a small participation fee which covers county permits, site maintenance, and advertising. Signup is quick and easy via a link on the main site.
This year’s Spring sale is Saturday, March 8th 2014, from 8am to 4pm. For more information, visit http://www.AvalonYardSale.com or email chris@avalonyardsale.com.
