Shepherdstown residents Will and Anne Miller watch as passersby look through the items at their yard sale on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The inaugural Shepherdstown Community-Wide Yard Sale drew a crowd into the Corporation of Shepherdstown on Saturday.

At least eight homeowners participated in the yard sale, which was organized by fellow homeowner Pia Peltola. She was assisted by her husband, Andy Singletary, in running a yard sale in front of their home on New Street.

“We’ve had a pretty good, steady stream of people come by,” Singletary said. “It’s been very friendly! We’ve gotten to see a number of people here who we haven’t seen in a while, as well as meet many new faces.”

A number of the items in their sale had been sitting in their garage for years, such as education games their adult son played as a child.

“Over the years, we have filled our garage with items that we no longer needed, but that were in too good condition to throw away,” Peltola said. “I’ve been wanting to hold a yard sale to sell them, for some time.”

Shepherdstown residents Andy Singletary, left, and Pia Peltola, right, chat about the items in their yard sale with Tim Jacot on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

When she had finally worked up the energy to plan that yard sale, she realized that she wanted to make it part of a bigger event.

“The idea that I came up with, was that everybody who wanted to hold a yard sale would set up on the same day, and that it would become a town tradition. That way, people would know to save up the items they want to include in the sale, throughout the year,” Peltola said. “I thought it would be a lot of fun for us to do this together.”

She said the event will be held on the third Saturday of each October, so that — as was the case this year — local residents will doubly benefit from participating in the sale, as the Corporation of Shepherdstown’s fall cleanup event is held soon after that, at the beginning of November. This schedule will allow local residents to look through the items they no longer need and, from there, determine to either include them in the yard sale or to hold them back for a couple of weeks, to send to the landfill.

Participating in a larger yard sale like this one proved to be an excellent decision for Will and Anne Miller. The German Street residents were thrilled to successfully sell off a number of items, including some Dr. Seuss-themed ones which Anne had used in her classroom at Ranson Elementary School, prior to her retirement in June.

“We have held two yard sales here before. With this being a larger event, I had hoped that it would bring in more people,” Anne said. “It certainly has done that! I plan on doing it again next year.”

For Shepherdstown resident Karen Glennon, the Shepherdstown Community-Wide Yard Sale provided her with a great “treasure hunting” opportunity.

“I always consider shopping consignment, second-hand, thrift and yard sales to be treasure hunting,” Glennon said. “Every once in a while, you find something super cool.”

She noted that an added benefit of yard sale shopping, was that it helped out her neighbors and the planet, preventing usable items from ending up in the landfill. Some of her favorite items to hunt for are quality wool and linen products, like tablecloths and napkins, which she regularly uses at home.

“I love natural fibers — they can be hard to find,” Glennon said.