New and old community members gathered in the student parking lot this past Saturday, May 20th, to participate in the annual Dominion High School Yard Sale which lasted from 7am-2pm. Individual sellers and charity organizations alike sold everything from clothes to CDs to snow boards.

Vendors began setting up as early as 5:15 on Saturday morning, according to the event’s primary coordinator of eleven years, Christina Wyche. “It was nice to see parents from many years ago [whose kids] graduated from here, my kids graduated from here,” Wyche said.

Wyche, the substitute teacher coordinator at Dominion along with other staff members sold items at the yard sale to raise money for the Breakfast Club which serves breakfast every morning in the cafeteria. 

Sellers also purchased two parking spaces for thirty dollars and all proceeds also go towards the breakfast club. “It’s mostly a community event. We make some money, but it’s a community event,” the organizer’s husband, Bruce Cochran, said.

Also Head Athletic Trainer Rickie Atkins ran his food truck at the yard sale throughout the day starting at 8:30 that morning. He and his wife Rhonda Atkins own Skrimp Shack which includes the food truck and two locations in Winchester and Richmond. “I just like cooking food and [giving] service to people. If I didn’t have all the expense of the food truck, I probably would give most of it away for free,” Atkins said.

Other organizations present at the event included Charles Grant Charities, Lasagna Love, and Grace Covenant Church. Grace Covenant Church has attended the yard sale eight to ten times in past years according to GCC member Colleen Felder. “We originally partne

red with the school because we were doing church school on Sundays, so being in the community is really important to us and we love the relationships that we’ve been able to build with the school and the yard sales,” she said.

Charles Grant Charities is a non-profit dedicated to helping families in need in Loudoun County and participated in the community yard sale for the first time this year. According to Phyllis Williams, one of the organization’s volunteers, all proceeds go to people and families who need it. “So we’re gonna load up the truck, and we’re taking everything that didn’t sell to Hope’s Treasures, and we’re gonna donate it to them to sell to raise money for the community as well. I would definitely do this again,” Williams said.

Another volunteer with Charles Grant Charities, Jennifer Womack, said the foundation takes part in food basket preparations during major holidays, a charity golf tournament, as well as cash donations which the fondation raised at the yard sale. “A lot of times families don’t necessarily need goods, they need help paying their rent or their utilities,” she said.

Although many non-profits were present, many independent families and community sellers also attended, selling homegoods and other items to free up space in their homes. “I’ve got a lot of art, shoes, DVDs and some musical instruments and related paraphernalia,” first time participant Lori Brooks said.

The event brings back multiple sellers each year including community member Pretti Walker and her family who first participated in the yard sale last year. “We loved it. We love the way it’s been organized,” Walker said.

Julia, a three time participant described the weather being the best of all the years they came out. “We just want to get rid of some of these things and they’re good quality stuff. I think it’s a good event and you always make some extra money. It’s just good when the weather’s nice, it’s the best out of the three years,” she said.

The event attracted roughly 100 customers according to seller’s estimates. The greatest draw of the community yard sale is the proximity of different sellers. “It’s nice to have this many yard sales just in one spacing, you just kinda walk around and hit them,” customer George Short said.

Both returning and first time sellers experienced success at the yard sale. Community member Mirka Colman and her family sold items from their home they no longer had use for. “We just moved into the location. We didn’t expect it, [but the sale] was actually very good,” she said.

The yard sale successfully raised money for a variety of charities and brought the community together, but most of all gave community members an opportunity to shop freely. Customers weren’t shopping for anything specific because, as Short put simply, “that’s not what you go to a yard sale for.”