Garage Sale Weekend is a holiday in Warrensburg. On the Wednesday leading up to THE BIG SALE, town employees mark off no-parking zones with rolls of yellow caution tape. A tractor-trailer hauling a dozen blue porta-potties rumbles into town. On Thursday, tents begin to rise up on lawns and vacant lots. By Friday, the activity kicks up, along with the stream of vehicles driving into town.
The local school district holds a Superintendent’s Conference Day. This means the kids stay home, and the yellow buses remain parked in their garage, avoiding the stop-and-go traffic on Main Street. Warrensburg graduates, now away at university, make the effort to come home for Garage Sale. It’s a reunion of high school friends. They spend Saturday and Sunday checking out tables laden with belt buckles, work gloves, sports memorabilia and concert posters. It’s a weekend spent on the streets eating hamburgers, sausage and peppers, pizza, fried dough, blooming onions and caramel corn.
The event started in 1979 with a handful of residents putting together a joint yard sale as a way to clear out the clutter and raise some funds to pay for winter heating fuel. The concept took off to become a miles-long bazaar, stretching along State Route 9 from Lake George to points north of The Burgh. Hundreds of vendors from across the country rent space to sell truckloads of tools, toys, clothing, jewelry, housewares, antiques, collectibles, crafts and food, lots of food.
Along the back streets, homeowners set up traditional yard sales with furniture, kitchen appliances, electronics and thousands of other items shoppers didn’t realize they absolutely needed until they saw the incredibly low price. Local non-profits sell raffle tickets for cars, canoes, snowmobiles and motorcycles. Some residents hate Garage Sale Weekend. They lock up the house and leave town until it is over. Some prepare as if preparing for a storm. They stock up on bread and milk ahead of time and bring in the lawn chairs (if you leave something on your lawn in Warrensburg during Garage Sale Weekend, someone will try to buy it.)
Over the years, the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce, who organizes the sale, has become expert in traffic control. Signs along the Adirondack Northway (I-87) let truckers know they need to drive right by Exit 23, the Warrensburg exit. Garage sale shoppers are advised to get off the highway in Lake George at Exit 22 from the South, or Exit 24 from the North, and follow signs to the Warren County Fair Grounds on Horicon Avenue. The Fair Grounds offer free parking. Shuttle buses, also free, make a regular loop through town to transport people into the hub of activity.
The World’s Largest Garage Sale is officially a Saturday and Sunday event, although many sellers will open for business on Friday. As the vendors pack up their goods and take down their tents on Sunday, many homeowners push the remains of their own sales to the curb and add a “free” sign.
Sunny, warm weather brings out the largest crowd. Some years, estimates have put attendance at 100,000. Rain and even snow has thinned the throng in past years, but this only means it becomes a buyer’s market. It’s a festival atmosphere no matter the weather, and even bargain hunters that come away with empty shopping wagons still have the experience of participating in the biggest garage sale in the world.
