PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Historical Society will open the doors to the former Lincoln School site today for a members-only preview of a garage sale so big it is organized like a department store.
After today’s 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. preview — when some staff members will dress up in vintage clothing — the general public Friday and Saturday can dive into a vast array of everything from aprons to zippers, including tools, clothing, books, household items, furniture, crafts and collectibles.
But those who aren’t members of the historical society now don’t have to wait to shop at the sale at the old school site at Eighth and C streets.
“If you’re not a member yet, you can join at the door,” said Kathy Monds, executive director of the historical society.
Memberships cost $35 for families, $30 for individuals, $25 for senior citizens and $10 for youths.
Friday and Saturday, the sale will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
And it will reopen the following weekend from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. both Friday, Sept. 9 — which will be half-price day — and Saturday, Sept. 10, when remaining items will be sold for a “buck a bag.”
The 1916 brick schoolhouse that will house the sale is also a primary recipient of the money raised, Monds said.
The giant sale is the historical society’s biggest annual fundraiser, which helps fund the Museum at the Carnegie and other historical society operations as well as restoration of the old school site.
Continuing restoration
The sale provides visitors a look at the continuing renovation of the former Lincoln School, which was purchased by the historical society in 1991 at a cost of $210,000 and will house the Clallam County Museum and Resource Center.
Now, the site hosts both a research library and an artifacts center.
“For our regulars, when they come in year after year, they’re always impressed with what we have done,” Monds said.
This year, that includes the removal of the south addition and the new front entryway.
Many of the rooms that have been partially renovated house sale items, which have been sorted by dozens of volunteers.
There is a kitchen department, men’s and women’s clothing departments, and a collection of collectibles, as well as holiday decorations, furniture and jewelry.
The collectibles department includes several cotton christening gowns, a full set of antique porcelain spice rack containers, several sets of sterling silverware, cross-stitch items and an accordion.
One wall is covered with paintings and picture frames, while another displays blanket hangings.
Sale grown since first
The sale has grown since the first one, held in a large storage shed behind the museum office.
That sale brought in $4,000, Monds said.
In 2010, the garage sale raised $27,000.
This sale is the 18th hosted by the historical society.
For the first few years, it was not an annual event, Monds said.
Since it began a yearly tradition, some compete for first-day finds, she said.
“We have one man who is always there waiting outside the door” before the sale opens, she said.
Volunteers who worked at least 10 hours in preparation for the sale were allowed to purchase items before the sale began in any department except collectibles.
“No one touches the collectibles until the sale begins,” Monds said.
Every year, six to eight museum-quality items with connections to Clallam County history are donated for the sale, Monds said.
Those items are put into the museum collection, she said.
For more information about the garage sale, phone the historical society’s office at 360-452-2662 or email artifact@olypen.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
