BELLVILLE — The streets of this village were bustling Thursday, with locals and people from distant cities and towns attempting to ferret out bargains at the village-wide garage sale.
Some sites opened at 7 a.m., and people located a bit outside the village had signs, hoping to entice people to stop in.
Diana Carlin joined with four other families to have a large sale at the corner of Durbin and Richland streets.
A lucky visitor could get nail kegs and galvanized tubs, plus jams, jellies, linens, clothes and baked goods.
Carlin said her husband goes to auctions and buys numerous items, like old buckets, pieces of farm machinery, bright outdated kitchen stools, and old military pieces.
Those items were some of the first to go.
Carlin said one woman spent $268 on galvanized tubs, priced at $35 each.
Items available included a push mower for $10 and a step stool for $15.
Julie Lisle, who is from Xenia, said she took a day off work at the advice of a friend in Bellville. She drove 2.5 hours, and stood in line to get her solid bucket, plus an old dresser set.
She said she changed her schedule at work, Samaritan’s Purse, so she could come.
Darrell Martin, accompanied by his grandson Gavin Martin Blankenship, were there as a team. Martin said his grandson, 15, was “pickin” items. He said the young man “knows how to look for old stuff.”
They were grabbing old square washtubs and washstands.
A mixed group of people were scouring the village, and some passage ways on streets were getting a little crowded. There seemed to be overcrowding on streets like Durbin, where many adjoining households were hosting sales.
At Carlin’s sales display, there were cases of items like unused canning jars. A few Amish people were looking at those wares and inquiring about prices.
Martin and Blankenship displayed a Winchester box they had just purchased. Blankenship said it would have been better if it had contained some shells.
Martin said he works with his brother, who lives in Kentucky. He said he “buys and he sells.”
His one rule, he said, is that he won’t buy what he can’t carry.
At other houses hosting sales, customers could pay $5 for a Lowry organ. The host there explained that it doesn’t work.
Many sites sold baked goods and there were numerous displays of children’s clothes and toys.
Another host, Lori McKee, said she joined with two other families.
She said there was “a ton of traffic” and that she opened at 8 a.m.
Keeping track of sales for families working together was the job of McKee, who said in her real life she is an accountant.
She is the controller at North Central State College.
She said it’s not that difficult to keep track of everyone’s sales. She just keeps a column of sales figures under the other participants’ names.

