NORTHAMPTON — It all began with horses.
When the Northampton Sidewalk Sales started in 1972, a date rediscovered by Northampton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Suzanne Beck and former jewelry store proprietor Joice Gere, it was scheduled to coincide with the New England Morgan Horse Show at the Three County Fairgrounds. Indeed, the sales used to be opened with a horse and carriage parade from the horse show.
“It was a tradition for a while,” said Beck.
The horse show and Sidewalk Sales still overlap, but the sales have now become an event in their own right, drawing sizeable crowds of people downtown to the tent city that springs up in Northampton every summer.
“I moved out of the area and I still come back for the Sidewalk Sales,” said Megan Butow, who now lives in Norwell, as she shopped along Main across from Pulaski Park.
Butow said that she likes to make a day of it, and enjoys the great bargains she finds at the sales.
The Sidewalk Sales this year began Thursday and continue through Sunday, and the Downtown Northampton Association lists 50 businesses and organizations as participants ranging from toys to food, clothes and more.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” said Downtown Northampton Association Executive Director Amy Cahillane, who noted that it can serve as a boost for businesses in the slow summer months.
Karen Cherry, of Goshen, said she likes to bargain hunt at the sales, which she said she’s been going to for about 25 years. She also said that she likes seeing all the people who come out for the event.
Andrew Lapenta and Jaime Adams, of Greenfield, had never been to a Sidewalk Sale until Friday, when they went into Northampton so that Adams could get a piercing. They chose to stick around to browse and people watch.
“It’s a good day for that,” Lapenta said.
The sales serve a variety of purposes for the businesses that participate.
For India Palace, which has been serving food at Northampton street festivals for 27 years, it’s both a way to advertise its food and to engage with the community.
“Every year we do this just to give people a taste of India Palace,” said Jasmeet Singh, whose parents own the business.
Singh paused the conversation several times to serve $6 lunch boxes and $3 Chicken Tikka and $3 Chana Masala to customers, and he noted that offering India Palace’s food at a lower price was another element of the sales.
For music and movie store Turn It Up!, the Sidewalk Sales serves as a financial boost.
“It’s a nice boost in the slow summer months,” longtime employee Mike Warawaka said.
It also serves as a way for the store to offload some of its inventory.
“It serves two purposes,” he said.
The sale also helps with inventory at Harlow Luggage, which marks down nearly every item in its store and in its sidewalk display by 15 to 85 percent.
“We clear a lot of items at this time,” proprietor Bob Burdick said.
Barbara Goldstein, co-owner of Ellie’s Oils, was manning the booth at her business’ first Sidewalk Sale on Main Street. Ellie’s Oils is located on Service Center Road, and she said that she hopes that participating in the Sidewalk Sales will draw people to her store.
“I think it will raise our visibility a little bit,” she said.
Many of the vendors interviewed expressed happiness at being able to do their work outside.
“It’s wonderful,” said Margaret Miller, who was offering psychic readings at a discounted rate. “You get to read a lot of people.”
And even though the rain on Thursday wasn’t exactly appreciated, a number of vendors still reported that they’d been able to do a reasonable business. At the same time, this was particularly vexing for Modern Myths, a comic book store whose display was set up outside of GoBerry.
“No one likes a wet book,” said manager Melissa Lewis-Gentry, noting that she hadn’t been comfortable bringing out those wares.
With the weather being nearly perfect on Friday, however, things were looking up.
“It’s nice to get our face out here,” she said.