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Community garage sale hits 20 years in Mount Prospect

In the market for some baseball cards? How about some dining chairs, or a men's bicycle, or a children's basketball hoop?

All of these items and many, many more will be for sale this weekend at the 20th annual Mount Prospect Villagewide Garage Sale, and at rock-bottom prices. The residents of more than 420 homes located all over town will be participating, making the sale the place to be for bargain hunters. The event, expected to bring thousands of shoppers to the village, will run Friday through Sunday.

“This is our 20th year, which is pretty amazing,” said resident Tom Zander of Picket Fence Realty. Zander and his wife, Mary, started the garage sale in the early 1990s. “People seem to be into it as much as ever.”

The garage sale was more of a neighborhood event when the Zanders started it. They advertised the sale in a real estate newsletter they used to send out.

Over time, interest in the garage sale grew, and the Zanders eventually expanded the sale to include the entire village.

It's free to participate as a seller, and interested residents still have time to sign up. Residents can register online at the sale's website, mountprospectgaragesale.com. The website allows sellers to advertise their items and, conversely, allows shoppers to take a look at what kinds of things will be for sale. A map of participating homes and driving directions to Mount Prospect also are available on the website.

Organizing the sale takes a lot of work, but Zander said that even after 20 years, he hasn't grown tired of it.

“You know, it's a really fun event, and because I'm a bit of a computer geek I enjoy adding the homes to the map on the website and so on,” he said.

The only worry now, he said, is the weather. So far, the forecast predicts that the weekend will be reasonably warm and dry.

“We're all keeping our fingers crossed,” Zander said.

Mount Prospect Villagewide Garage Sale

When: Friday, May 17, through Sunday, May 19

Where: More than 400 homes located all over the village

Info: Go to <a href="mountprospectgaragesale.com">mountprospectgaragesale.com</a>

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