BELCHERTOWN – Over 85 households across Belchertown will fill their yards with toys, vinyl records, vintage knickknacks, old tools and many other items to turn their town into a larger-than-life marketplace over a three-day period starting Friday.
The Belchertown Community Yard Sale, now in its second year, offers residents a chance to bond with their neighbors while cleaning out their closets, garages and basements. The sale starts Friday at 8 a.m. and continues through Sunday. To participate, shoppers are asked to stop at the Town Fields in front of the Senior Center for a $5 map of the vendor households, then drive around town to search for hidden gems among the large marketplace.
All proceeds from this year’s sale will go to the Belchertown Senior Center and Council on Aging.
“We’re trying to do a rotating nonprofit partner every year that’s local to the area of Belchertown itself,” said Kris Lynds, organizer of the event. “The senior center isn’t allowed to raise money for themselves being a town entity, so we thought what a perfect opportunity to name them as this year’s beneficiary.”
In its first year, the event raised over $3,000 for Better Together Dog Rescue. More than 5,300 people came through Belchertown for the tag sale, including people as far south as Texas and Florida.
“We were rather shocked by not only the wealth of shoppers that came through, but the diversity of where they came from,” Lynds said.
In addition to maps sales, the Town Field will feature sponsor booths, a disc jockey playing music to excite incoming shoppers, and booths with six sellers to start the spree. Lynds opened up the central area to household sellers after residents in condominium and apartments without a yard reached out to him asking for a common space to sell their wares.
“It’s the largest that I’ve ever seen from a community event, and I go to a lot of [tag sales],” Lynds said. “It feels like a mini Brimfield [Antique Market] at this point.”
The Belchertown Community Yard Sale has become one of the markets that Andy Halperin’s sells his findings from old storage units. Prior to moving to Belchertown five years ago, Halperin began purchasing units and scouring for high-quality antiques and goods. Besides Facebook Marketplace and Ebay, he sells items at garage sales.
“I like going to tag sales myself because it’s something my dad did and now I’m doing it,” Halperin said. “It’s fun to find little gems, sometimes stuff you can use but mostly to resell.”
Many people came by Halperin’s home last year, purchasing clothes, toys, stuffed animals and books. This year, he plans to put out tools, collectibles, antiques, games and knives.
While Halperin organizes his small items to sell, Derek Dufresne devotes his week to fixing up an old camper. He’s been setting up tag sales with music equipment, vinyl records, Christmas decor, a blowup hot tub, kids toys and televisions at his home each weekend to prepare for the big event.
“My mom loved taking me tag saleing growing up, so to be a part of something in the community like this has been something I’ve always been interested in,” Dufresne said.
Dufresne and his fiancé recently bought the old West Side Pizza joint in Palmer. He plans to turn it to an upscale pizza restaurant, but needs some funds for renovations. He’s hoping to raise money to cover some of work on the building.
“I want to be able to give more and provide more for community events to drive business,” Dufresne said. “We’ve been expressing to people that we will be opening a new restaurant and we have already built a pretty good relationships with some of the locals in town.”
In case of rain, the yard sale will move to Aug. 15 through Aug. 17.
Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.
