More than just a bargain
Hunting for a treasure and having a visit still part of the culture, despite COVID-19
If you asked Alberto Cardona what time it is, chances are he could tell you in a snap.
That’s because he owns at least 150 clocks, of all shapes, sizes and styles, and they’re displayed on virtually every wall in his home.
“Look at the clocks, then look at me, you see a crazy man,” Cardona joked.
Many of these unique and historic timepieces were purchased at various yard sales across Prince Edward Island.
Many are old-fashioned models needing a wind-up key, but he owns many battery-powered models as well.
The Stratford man's collection includes mantle, wall and tabletop clocks. He has everything from cuckoo clocks to a grandfather clock and offbeat items like an hourglass and a clock shaped like the melting clocks depicted in Salvador Dali paintings. One clock is estimated to be from the 1860s, and it still works.
Among his many prized timepieces are clocks manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Company, a company with a reputation for highquality craftsmanship. Cardona noted previous owners were “very proud” of these vintage models.
Another of his favourite pieces is a tiny battery-powered clock shaped like a soccer jersey and with a picture of the Colombian soccer team on the clockface.
Cardona, who immigrated to Canada nearly two decades ago from his native Colombia, recalled his youthful days visiting his aunt, admiring the “very beautiful” vintage clocks and radios in her home. He joked that his parents implored him to be careful around such valuable objects: “I was a very busy boy; I was told, ‘don’t touch anything!’”
CULTURE OF YARD SALES
While he adores vintage clocks, Cardona says the culture of yard sales go beyond discovering such finds. He says yard sales offer a chance to help people who need to pare down what they have in their homes. It’s also a chance to gain some knowledge of the history of the items and the people they belonged to.
In addition, they are just great social activities where one can bump into old friends and meet up with new ones.
“It’s entertainment in P.E.I. on the weekends,” Cardona said.
It’s also entertainment in other parts of the Atlantic provinces, including Shubenacadie, N.S., where Eileen Harvie has experienced joy and success both as a buyer and seller.
She explained that it wasn’t until she and her husband moved from British Columbia to the Maritimes that she understood how fanatical some yard-salers are.
“In Bathurst, New Brunswick, as soon as it got light out, people were driving about, looking for sales,” she said.
Later, after the couple moved to Shubenacadie, Harvie started searching for good deals. She also found a way to get rid of stuff collected over the years of raising three children.
“It’s a good area to put out a few tables, and I don’t like throwing away usable items,” she said.
Harvie also fondly recalls the social aspect of the yard sale, as people from Shubenacadie and surrounding communities stopped for some interesting finds and good conversation.
“I met some wonderful people – they would come by and sit on the lawn chair and chat for the day,” she said.
When asked for any particular yard sale advice, Harvie said not all deals are as good as they appear.
“Sometimes you get a really good deal (on something), but then you get it home and it doesn’t work,” she said, but she added that sometimes one “just has to laugh” because it wasn’t as if a lot of money was spent.
While Harvie enjoyed her yard sale experience, she soon discovered a Facebook online auction group and became one of the group’s administrators. The online group turned out to be far more lucrative than items sitting on a table.
For example, Harvie was able to sell a collection of antique shaving equipment her husband had purchased decades ago at an Ontario flea market.
“I told him, ‘if you let me sell it on auction, I’ll give you every penny,” Harvie said. “He made his money back.”
THE COVID IMPACT
By early 2020, Harvie and some others involved with the auction put some thought into stepping back from it. But COVID-19 ended up making that decision for them.
Since then, virtually all large-scale yard sale events that would normally take place every summer and autumn across Atlantic Canada have been curtailed.
Well-known draws, like P.E.I.’s 70-Mile Coastal Yard Sale, or the Shoreline Yard Sale, which takes place along the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, have been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the uncertainly brought by the pandemic.
However, yard sales hosted by individual households, as well as smaller-scale events, are permitted. That included the annual Basinview Drive Yard Sale, which took place in the Bedford, N.S., subdivision on June 26-27.
The event didn’t take place last year due to COVID restrictions, and organizers were unsure about the fate of the 2021 edition due to the third wave this past spring, but eventually, it was a go.
“We kept in contact with Public Health and the Nova Scotia government, to see when we were allowed to partake,” said organizer Tanya MacLennan-Scott.
MacLennan-Scott said the 2021 edition of the yard sale was on par, if not more so, with previous events.
The proof, she said, was in the many cars driving around the subdivision in the early hours of the morning looking for deals before the event even officially begun.
“People are wanting to go back to some sort of normalcy and the yard sale is a trigger to do something that’s considered normal,” she said.
About 50 households registered to be part of the yard sale, and many neighbourhood children “had a ball” selling cookies or setting up lemonade stands to provide refreshments to thirsty visitors.
MacLennan-Scott credits part of the event’s success to the fact organizers used as many outlets as possible to get the word out, including Kijiji, Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Few posters were printed out, in part due to the uncertainty of when COVID protocols would permit such an event.
Those protocols were in mind during the weekend. No property could have more than 25 people at any given time, while households also had hand sanitizers available.
But the new rules couldn’t dissuade bargain hunters.
“People were very respectful. If they saw two or three families at one spot, they’d wait,” MacLennan-Scott said. “And I don’t think I saw anyone who didn’t wear a mask.”
Similar rules exist in the rest of Atlantic Canada. The P.E.I. government’s website recommends, among other things, to allow at least three metres between tables, to place posters encouraging physical distancing and to provide hand sanitizer.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government doesn’t recommend yard sales, according to its website, but notes they are not prohibited by any orders issued under the province’s public health emergency.
CONTINUED POPULARITY
In any case, it seems likely that yard sales will continue to exist in some form, even with other options such as Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace. MacLennan-Scott considers herself more of a planner than a yard-saler but sees the attraction from both the seller’s and buyer’s perspective.
“It’s a big relief to get rid of stuff and of doing that big purge,” she said, while adding that for buyers, it’s about finding something both unique and a conversation piece.
"It’s them saying: ‘look what I just got for $2 – it’s a score for them, and they’ve got to tell someone,” MacLennanScott said.
She noted one such unusual find made by a visitor – a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizza maker for $5.
In P.E.I., Cardona laments that online marketplaces have “killed” yard sales, although he has used Kijiji to buy vintage clocks from off-Island.
And in Shubenacadie, Harvie has enjoyed both inperson and online sales but admits there is something missing from the online experience. For one thing, when you’re online, you can only go by what’s on a computer screen.
“Some things aren’t as they appear (online); you can make a nice picture,” Harvie said. “Personally, I’d rather have it in my hand and decide if I want to buy it.”
MacLennan-Scott doesn’t think the ease of using the internet can fully erase the magic of the old-fashioned yard sale.
“Once you’re a yard-saler, you’re a yard-saler for life,” she said. “It’s the adventure of going from house to house to see what you can get.”