The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Garage sale allows vendors to dip feet in
Jessica Wilson, a Perry resident, has shopped at the Great Garage Sale over the years, she said, but this year, she has returned as a vendor for the first time.
“I just started going mobile within the last month,” Wilson said, who started Let’s Get Krafty With It roughly a year ago, a business that specializes in customized or personalized sublimation, eco solvent printing and vinyl.
“It’s going well so far. I’m able to do it all on demand here in my craft wagon,” Wilson said. “I have my printers and my heat press - I’m ready to roll.”
Wilson offers tumblers, license plates, garden flags, doormats, clothing and anything else that can be personalized, she said. Wilson has more than 900 images available for customers to choose from or they are able to bring their own image to be placed on many different materials, she said.
Wilson said she enjoys meeting people through her business. She plans to be set up at flea markets and events as they come along this year, she said.
“It’s always rained, so this year has been quite a blessing,” Wilson said. “I was a school bus driver and when everything closed down, I bought myself a Cricut machine and I thought, ‘Well, I’m just going to stay busy.’ Then, it just materialized.”
For more than 20 years, the Great Garage Sale has graced the Lake County Fairgrounds located at 1301 Mentor Ave. in Painesville. Roughly 300 vendors were in attendance this year, said Sam Taylor, one of the
three directors on the committee for the sale.
“We’re glad to see people out,” Taylor said. “There are a lot of antiques, woodworking tools, collectables and a little bit of everything.”
For vendors, the sale gives them an opportunity to showcase what they have, Taylor said.
“There are so many different people from the community who come out to look for different things,” Taylor said. “We’ll probably have over 1,000 buyers today. With the nice weather, people are rolling in and out. We get people from all over the place and we have people who travel a couple of hours just to set up here. We encourage people to come out and see what some of these people have been collecting.”
Among the many vendors at the sale were Angela Greaves and her husband, Alex Howell, who just
opened CLE Workshop LLC.
“This is really our first debut to the community of the products that (Howell) develops and creates,” Greaves said. “Everything is local. We try to find ways to make home decor fun and functional.”
Reclaimed wood and local, fallen trees are mostly used for CLE Workshop’s products, Greaves said.
“My sister-in-law made jewelry and I do a lot of vinyl work with my Cricut to make snarky home decor as well,” Greaves said. “We thought this would be a great opportunity to talk to a lot of people and see what people like.”
Howell has always been into woodworking, Greaves said.
“My father bought him a CNC machine because they were both kind of interested in it,” Greaves said. “He just started with very simple things and here we are.”
The sale provides an opportunity
to communicate with people and to see what they’re looking for, she said.
“You always want to create something new,” Greaves said. “We want to do local. We’re very big on shopping local and it’s important to support your local community.”