From teacups and saucers to furniture and toasters, the Red Deer and District SPCA Garage Sale this weekend offered a department store array of items for the bargain shopper and the SPCA supporter alike.
In all, around 25 volunteers put in around 900 hours of work, organizing, tagging and displaying the merchandize on 70 tables around the former All Sports Replay building at 5237 54th Ave. The sale continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The final fundraising tally is expected early this week, with organizers hoping to raise $25,000 in the fundraiser that started around a decade ago in a volunteer’s garage and has now expanded exponentially in size. The organization was also raffling off various items.
“I enjoy organizing and helping out the SPCA,” said Brenda Spark, who is on the fundraising committee and was one of the organizers of the garage sale. Spark has two cats herself and has helped with the sale for eight years.
There was a pile of stuffed animals, tables with sheets, Christmas and Halloween decorations and kitchen tools. Probably the oddest item was a tribal-looking rainstick, that everyone joked brought on the wintery weather on Saturday.
Jane Ming, another volunteer at the event, said if anything the wet weather helped the event, with people seeming to appreciate having a place to go inside. Ming, who has volunteered with the SPCA since the mid-1970s, said she keeps working with the SPCA to raise money for the shelter and help the animals.
Money raised during the four-day event will go towards operating the Red Deer and District SPCA.
The new Red Deer and District SPCA building, which faces 77th Street, opened in March. The organization’s official grand opening for the building is set for Saturday, June 12, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
There will be children’s activities, a doggy spa and barbecue during the event, which is open to the public.
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com