UMW Rummage Sale – Before

This should be a three-part series, but I forgot to take pictures of the takedown of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake’s Rummage Sale.

The Methodist Men set up the bare bones.

They set up the tables, brought the racks down from the attic, put them together and put down the plastic to protect the car.

But even after their work, the place looked quite empty.

Then, people started bringing stuff in.

Troop 158 Boy Scouts were helping people unload their cars and vans.

It was not until the church ladies, under the direction of Diane Williams, finished their work that the six rooms dedicated to the Rummage Sale look worth visiting.

Most of the re-cycled clothing is put in Wesley Hall next to the kitchen.

The crème-d-la-crème is taken to the Boutique.

Also separated out in a separate room this year were the linens.

They used to be stacked in a corner of Wesley Hall.

I got assigned to adult books.

They were in the toy room like always with the children’s books.

The place looked like one giant playroom, as was proven correct the next day.

There seemed to be more toys this year than in previous years and one of the tables usually used to display books was filled with stuffed toys.

About lunch time I had managed to figure out how to put a sturdy folding table up and had finished up the book sorting when Diane Williams asked if it would be possible to move the books next door.


As the Suessical song goes, “Anything’s possible.”

But, first it was off to lunch.

Wow.

Talk about appreciating volunteers.


Candles were burning.

What a meal!

I loved the bean soup with ham.

There was even a desert table!

The tables were decorated with colorful decorations, including Hershey candy wrapped in white with different color cut out flowers on top.

I took some home to put on my wife’s and son’s pillows.

After that, with the help of some ladies, into the adjoining room the books went.

The toys fit their room quite well, but the book room looked a bit empty.

But there was a whole table of romance novels.

Not many were left when the sale ended Saturday at noon.

And, across the room there was about a half a table of blood and guts, legal novels, spy stuff–you know, the stuff that supposed to appeal more to guys than gals.

By the end of the day, it was show time for church members.

What happened after the shoppers came in will appear in a subsequent article.

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The three photos on the top left are of the main room, Wesley Hall, in various stages of readiness for Rummage Sale shoppers.

On the right a Boy Scout helps unload items being brought to the sale.

The new Linen Room is beneath the hall shot.

Volunteers eat lunch in the picture below. There is a close-up of the attractive table decorations.

The Boutique, almost ready for opening hour is next on the left.

On the bottom right, you can see the table full of romance novels.

Finally, on the bottom left is a shot of the items displayed outside.

All of the pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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