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Residents looking to part ways with old belongings or score an interesting find are in luck. Mountain View announced it is bringing back its citywide garage sale, a coordinated weekend-long event with hundreds of participating homes.
The garage sale extravaganza has been a fixture in the city for two decades, but suffered a setback during the coronavirus pandemic. Mountain View canceled the event in 2020 and 2021, citing public health concerns. But with new COVID-19 cases near all-time lows, the city opted to cautiously bring the the event back this spring.
The city plays a relatively hands-off role, with individual residents signing up to host garage sales at their own homes. Households that don’t have enough items to warrant a sale can team up with neighbors and sign up as one participant.
The deadline to sign up is Sunday, April 26.
To help shoppers find their way to garage sales, the city will post a map of all participating homes on May 6 with a list of addresses. Printed copies will be available outside City Hall.
Because of the city’s limited oversight, it will be up to shoppers and sellers to follow public health guidelines for COVID-19. In a statement Monday, March 28, city officials encouraged residents to be courteous and maintain a 6-foot distance between one another when possible. The city recommends wearing masks and asks participants to “respect any requests” by sellers to wear masks while on their property.
The city also sets tight rules for advertising garage sales, particularly with a crush of homes all expected to hold sales all on one weekend. Signs can only be posted on private property with the owner’s consent, and are prohibited on utility poles, street signs and signaled light poles.
The event runs on Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. In past years, it has attracted close to 200 participants annually. City officials say the event is part of Mountain View’s 2018 zero waste policy, which sets a goal of reducing by 90% the waste headed for landfills by 2030. The citywide garage sale is touted as a means to divert 125 tons of reusable items each year.
On Mother’s Day. Who chose that? Shoot!
Do apartment dwellers outnumber homeowners in MV? It would be nice if the city would allocate space in a local park like Pioneer Park or Eagle Park for those residents who don’t own houses with yards but nevertheless have a ton of j̶u̶n̶k̶ valuable stuff they want to part with.