120 sales now on the map for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2012 – the six hours (9 am-3 pm the second Saturday of May, which this year is May 12th) when our peninsula turns into Garage/Yard/Rummage Sale Paradise. We are now exactly a week away from the official registration deadline – 11:59 pm next Wednesday (April 25th) – that cutoff gives us just enough time to make the maps (which will be ready a week before WSCGSD) and launch the final round of promotion with something resembling an accurate total.

**Registration form’s here**

And we have two more notes:
**NOT ENOUGH ROOM OR STUFF FOR YOUR OWN SALE? Hotwire Online Coffeehouse and C & P Coffee Company (both WSB sponsors) are once again offering courtyard/yard space for small individual sellers. Inquire at either coffee shop (4410 California is Hotwire, 5612 California is C&P) or by e-mail – info@hotwirecoffee.com or candp@comcast.net.

**DON’T WANT TO SELL, BUT HAVE STUFF SOMEONE MIGHT WANT TO SELL? The Rainbow Girls will be on the map again this year:

Cleaning out your closets? West Seattle #18 International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is seeking donations for our third annual garage sale Saturday, May 12th, 2012. If you have any small working appliances, furniture in good or better condition, tools and other household items that you would like to donate, please call Natalee Vroman 206-399-7748 or Jan Hunter 206-849-7906 and we will be happy to come and pick them up! Your donations are tax-deductible and we will provide you with a charitable contribution receipt. Rainbow Gets Girls Ready for Life! Check us out at www.gorainbow.org

It’s one of our favorite milestones – the 100th sale has now signed up to be part of this year’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day! 9 am to 3 pm May 12th is the 8th annual edition of WSCGSD – the fifth one coordinated by WSB – and whether you’re a seller or a shopper, it’s a chance to meet your neighbors and engage in one big day of what we like to think of as person-to-person recycling (we invite the rest of the region too, just in case they’d like to come shop our sales, dine and drink in our restaurants/bars, etc.). Nine more days to register – we’ve just set the deadline as 11:59 pm Wednesday night, April 25th. Here’s the form to sign up online! As May 12th gets closer, watch for updates not just here, but also on the WSCGSD website and Facebook page.

Quick note before we turn another calendar page: May 12th is now one month away … that’s the 8th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, coordinated and presented by WSB – not one big sale, but rather sales of all sizes, all over the peninsula, depending on how many people decide to join in. After a week and a half of registration, more than 70 sales are registered – thanks! – and we still have about two weeks to go. Not to jinx things too early, but we just heard the outlook for spring weather is fairly bright (Cliff Mass says La Niña is on its way out) … WSCGSD has been graced with sunshine in recent years anyway. So if you’re ready to be part of the region’s BIGGEST all-community person-to-person-recycling day, sign up here! (Then keep an eye out for updates not just here, but also on the WSCGSD website and Facebook page.)

If you want to be part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day on May 12th but don’t have enough room – and/or stuff – to register your own freestanding sale, once again this year our two WSB coffeehouse sponsors are going to offer space to small-scale sellers: Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (4410 California SW) and C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW). Contact the proprietors of either coffeehouse directly if you’re interested in space – info@hotwirecoffee.com or candp@comcast.net (or inquire in person).

Meanwhile, after one week of signups, we have 60 sales registered, all sizes! While we promote WSCGSD regionally as well as locally, the aspect many people have told us they appreciate each year is getting out to meet and greet neighbors, whether they’re selling or buying – with more than 200 sales each of the past two years, almost every neighborhood has something going on. It’s the one day of the year that West Seattle becomes Garage Sale Paradise. (If you’re new to the area or pondering a sale for the first time, you can browse the archives on our official WSCGSD site to see photos from years past.) The map is available in printable and clickable forms one week before WSCGSD, but you have to be registered to be on it (and you get a classified-ad-style listing for your sale too) – here’s where to go to get in on it, and then, get ready for 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 12th, one day, one peninsula, lots of sales! More updates to come, including via Facebook (the WSCGSD page is here; the WSB page is here).

OK, so the shopping frenzy is nothing like an Easter egg hunt … we don’t do a countdown to 9 am and yell “GO!” but – we ARE counting down, in a more low-key way, to West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day itself (always the second Saturday in May, so that’s 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 12th this year), exactly five weeks away. We just started signups this week, so you have a few weeks to decide to jump in, but if you’re ready to commit to being part of it this year, we invite you to sign up now. You get to be on the printable and clickable maps, with a classified-style “ad” for your stuff, and you’ll be part of a fun meet-your-neighbors sale day that draws people from around the region (we promote it in a variety of online and offline channels that reach hundreds of thousands of potential shoppers, for miles and miles around). We’re closing in on 50 sales registered already! Here’s the form.

More than 20 sales of all sizes are already signed up for this year’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – the eighth annual edition (and the fifth one coordinated by us here at WSB), coming up 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 12th. It’s become more than a shopping-frenzy kind of day – it’s become, with more than 200 sales all over the peninsula each of the past two WSCGSD’s meaning that most areas have a sale within walking distance (if you’re not hosting one yourself), a chance to get out and meet more of your neighbors. And it’s also a chance for yard-saling fans from around the region to come enjoy and explore West Seattle (including lunch and refreshment stops at local businesses). Plus, of course, it’s ultimately person-to-person recycling! If you’re considering being a seller this year, don’t procrastinate … sign up now. If you’re not sure, you do have time to make up your mind – registration will continue for three more weeks. It’s an all-online process – here’s the form!

We really DID open registration as promised yesterday for the 8th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – but by the time we were ready, there was so much news to report here, we could only get the early word out in other channels – the WSCGSD website and the Facebook pages for WSCGSD (here) and WSB (here). NOW – we have a breaking-news-less moment to make the announcement here too!

The big day for sales all over West Seattle (more than 200, in recent years) is 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 12, 2012. Here’s the link to the registration form (registration is online-only). Again this year, to further reduce paper use – it was a big hit last year – if you are OK with getting your “packet” via e-mail instead of postal mail (general info including the sign template and how to donate leftovers through Northwest Center if you choose), please click “yes” on the form.

New this year: We have been asked every year about West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day sponsorships. This year, we’re going to give it a try – 3 sponsorship spots. If your business is interested, please contact WSB co-publisher/business-development director Patrick Sand, patrick@wsbsales.com.

Backstory ahead, if you’re new or need a refresher: Read More

Almost missed the chance to mention that it’s coming up fast … two months from today – May 12, 2012 – it’s the 8th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, 9 am-3 pm. If you’re new to the area, it’s not one big garage sale, but instead, many sales all over West Seattle (more than 200 last year), all on one day, which means almost everyone has one within walking distance – great chance to meet friends/neighbors old and new. Or, you can grab the map and see how many you can hit in the course of the day. We’ll be opening registration in three weeks, on Monday, April 2nd. If you want to see what past Garage Sale Days were like, you can browse the archives on our “official” WSCGSD site, westseattlegaragesale.com.

Some sellers are continuing on till 4 or so – the folks raising money at West Seattle High School for its girls’ basketball team have cut everything to half price, says coach Sonya Elliott. Other sellers who are extending hours are posting on the WSCGSD Facebook page. And then there are the spots where leftovers can be donated:

The Big Blue Truck from Northwest Center is staying late today at 44th and Edmunds for anybody who wants to haul over unsold items, instead of booking a pickup next week (which you can do online at bigbluetruck.org) or taking them back down to the basement. They’ll be there till 6:30 today only – then back tomorrow regular hours, 9 am-5 pm. If you have kids’ stuff, WestSide Baby always has a wish list – check it out here. Tools? See what the West Seattle Tool Library needs – they are open tomorrow, 1-5 pm, at 4408 Delridge Way (east side of the building).

(Among the many unusual items we’ve seen – Potter Construction hard hats at Sale #223, 5606 California SW)
Quick notes in addition to the coverage in earlier stories, to which we’re continuing to add: We’re publishing individual-sale photos/reports at westseattlegaragesale.com; sellers/buyers are continuing to post at facebook.com/westseattlegaragesaleday; and if you still don’t have a map, not too late to follow the downloadable-map link (12-page PDF) at westseattleblog.com/garagesaledaymap (where you can also browse the online version) – or there may still be a copy or two of the limited-edition printouts at Hotwire, C&P, Bird on a Wire, or the West Seattle Library branch in Admiral. Sales continue till 3 – and then if there are leftovers, Northwest Center‘s pickup spot is open later than usual today at 44th/Edmunds in The Junction (or schedule Big Blue Truck pickups next week); WestSide Baby also is taking donations longer than usual for a Saturday, till 4 pm. And the West Seattle Tool Library will be happy to take donations too!

That’s the vintage cash register VFW Post Commander Ron Zuber brought for the VFW Hall’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day debut, 3601 SW Alaska in The Triangle. It’s a group site, with multiple sellers renting tables – here’s vintage audio equipment:

The Triangle and Junction are hot spots today – among others! – right across the street from the VFW Hall, you’ll find Mountain to Sound Outfitters:

That’s M2SO boss Greg Whittaker, with some of what they have on sale. Just around the corner at 4550 Fauntleroy Way, more fun stuff for active people – it’s a bike swap and sale at Cycle University:

And at Merrill Gardens-West Seattle (WSB sponsor), 4611 35th SW, they’re raising money for the Senior Center of West Seattle. It’s Christmas in – May!

The MG folks tell us business has been good – and we are indeed seeing shoppers out all over the place. 3 1/2 hours to go, lots of time! Not far from The Triangle, by the way, Mural Apartments (WSB sponsor) has a sale indoors – multiple residents participating, and free popcorn!

Mural is on 42nd SW just north of SW Edmunds, right across from Jefferson Square.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: We are continuing to add photos to this update and others on WSB, which are grouped by category. For even more photos, sale by sale, each identified individually, go to westseattlegaragesale.com – sellers/buyers are also posting to facebook.com/westseattlegaragesaleday – thanks!)

On the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2011 maps, you’ll find more than a dozen sales labeled BENEFIT – they’re raising money for a group, or a person. In the case of Sale #204, 9843 42nd SW in Arbor Heights, that’s longtime WSB’er “JanS,” above left, with daughter Jessica. Jan is facing a kidney transplant – for which they are hopeful Jessica might be a “living donor” match. Once she gets the operation, she won’t be able to work for a while, so Jessica and friends are raising money today to help with Jan’s living expenses. Here’s some of what they are selling:

Adding other benefits:
Sale #4: 1227 SW Othello, raising money for a friend in need

Sale #15: 7944 20th SW, raising money for Chief Sealth Int’l High School cheerleaders (photo above; bake sale, too!)
Sale #25: 4142 47th SW, with bake sale to fight breast cancer

(Sale #29 photo by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
Sale #29: 3000 California SW, raising money for West Seattle High School girls’ basketball team

(Lots of dresses, and lots of shoppers, at the Ruby Room benefit sale, #31)
Sale #31: $10 dress sale at Cherry Consignment benefits The Ruby Room, 4142 California SW
Sale #39: 4136 Beach Drive, multifamily sale, all proceeds to American Cancer Society
Sale #42: 5704 SW Winthrop, partial proceeds benefiting YMCA Foundation for Youth

(Sale #58 photo by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
Sale #58: 4030 55th Avenue SW, benefiting Amethyst Chapter #138, Order of the Eastern Star.

(Hot dogs at sale #67, photo courtesy Kelly @ Muttley Crew Cuts)
Sale #67: 4200 SW Admiral Way at Muttley Crew Cuts, benefiting English Springer Rescue America
Sale #79: Fundraiser for 3-Day Walk, at Hotwire courtyard (4410 California SW)
Sale #105: 4116 55th SW. Fundraiser for Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure
Sale #120: 4003 53rd SW, Boy Scout Troop #284 benefit

(Amy at sale #126, photo by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
Sale #126: 3222 64th SW, benefiting lung-cancer research – sellers are organizing first Breathe Deep Seattle 5K, 8/13 at Lincoln Park
Sale #143: 2737 37th SW, proceeds benefiting PAWS

(Sale #156 photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Sale #156: 3533 SW Elmgrove, benefiting Drillers softball team

Sale #176: 3204 SW Morgan, 2011 West Seattle Relay for Life multi-team benefit at Bridge Park – restrooms available for public use!
Sale #194: 3929 SW Elmgrove, benefit for Susan G Komen 3-Day
Sale #202: 5931 47th SW, benefits Foolscap SF Convention
Sale #204: 9843 42nd SW (featured above, benefit for kidney-transplant-awaiting patient)
Sale #210: 8436 Fauntleroy Way, benefits teacher scholarships

(Photo courtesy Sue Winter, who’s being helped at Sale #220 by Jordan Winter & Larisa Sulcs)
Sale #220: WestSide Baby fundraiser, selling Usborne Children’s Books outside The Little Gym, 7025 California SW

(Gary Potter from Potter Construction [WSB sponsor] at Sale #223)
Sale #223: 5606 California SW, benefits local and worldwide programs supported by Rotary Club of West Seattle and Rotarians everywhere.
Sale #225: 7400 Fauntleroy Way SW, Lincoln Park P-Patch

(Sale #251 – with what we believe to be the largest number of participants in a single sale!)
Sale #251: 10404 34th SW, Arbor Heights Co-op Preschool
Sale #252: 10251 41st SW, benefits Susan G Komen 3-Day, members of the fabled Team Tracy are raising money.

(Sale #153 photo by Patrick Sand)
Sale #253: 10455 42nd SW, for West Seattle Community Orchestras
Sale #254: 10435 28th SW, benefit for medical treatment not covered by insurance.
Sale #258: 10033 37th SW, benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

That photo is just in from Lora at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor), Sale #28 on the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day map, 4410 California SW, where dozens of sellers are setting up. (Including Sale #79, a fundraiser for the breast-cancer-fighting 3-Day.) Same courtyard where you enjoy the West Seattle Outdoor Movies every summer! Other group sites: Sale #138, VFW Hall (3601 SW Alaska – indoors); Sale #200, C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 5612 California SW; and the bike swap at Cycle U (4550 Fauntleroy Way), Sale #139. Then there are the block sales! More on them coming up.

9:34 AM: Another photo from Lora – the plant sales at Hotwire, and shoppers! Plus, we have word from Ron at the VFW Hall – “Lots of stuff! China and glassware, Tools, Poker chips, automotive, sewing machines. Most, just make an offer!”

(Right across the street from the VFW Hall, you’ll find a sale at Mountain to Sound Outfitters – more on the Triangle overview shortly.)

2:23 PM: Selling outside at C&P, sale #200:

The day starts with sunshine – whew! 256 garage sales of all sizes are set for 9 am-3 pm as part of the 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which we are proud to have coordinated/presented since the fourth edition. Wherever you are in West Seattle, there are probably sales near you, a fun chance to meet neighbors and do some person-to-person recycling. Find the maps here – a clickable online map, and a printable 12-page (PDF) list/map. We’ll be out and about getting photos – but would love yours too, for our ongoing reports, whether it’s a general photo of a sale or a pic of something interesting you bought (or are selling). Here’s how to reach us. More to come as sale time approaches; next up, we’ll preview other highlights happening today. We’ll have sale highlights at westseattlegaragesale.com beyond those featured here, and sale chat (what are you looking for? or, what are you selling?) continues on the WSCGSD Facebook page. Have a great Saturday!

That pile of stuff is from what just might be the sale with the most participants – more than 100 families donating to Sale #251 at 10404 34th Avenue SW in Arbor Heights, to raise money for Arbor Heights Co-operative Preschool. It’s one of a dozen-plus benefit (fundraiser) sales registered among the 256 sales on the map for Saturday’s 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, 9 am-3 pm all over West Seattle. Explore the online version of the map here (where you’ll also find the link to print your own list/map if you haven’t already). And then there are the individual sales, where you never know what you might find – Dana sent a photo from hers, Sale #193, at 5617 Beach Drive:

This one’s an “estate sale,” with antiques, furniture, vintage dishes. Whatever you are looking for, you just might find it out there somewhere tomorrow. We’ve sent up the flares and invited the rest of the metro area, so we hope there will be plenty of buyers/browsers to go around. The forecast so far sounds cloudy, but the forecasters say the main rain threat isn’t till tomorrow night, so here’s hoping we will avoid soggy selling/shopping. The pre-sale chat goes on at the WSCGSD Facebook page; feel free to share photos there during the sale too (and/or postmortems afterward), or e-mail them to us, as we’ll be covering the goings-on best as we can.

P.S. Still indoor sale room at the VFW Hall, 3601 SW Alaska, just show up, in case you decide you want to be indoors; other group-sale sites where you’ll find multiple sellers are Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor; 4410 California SW), C & P Coffee (WSB sponsor; 5612 California SW), and the bike-swap site at Cycle U (4550 Fauntleroy Way). Have fun!

We’ll substitute a clearer photo a bit later but for now, that’s a cameraphoto of the latest YarnCore “yarn bomb” in West Seattle – appearing around a tree near Radio Shack in The Junction, during tonight’s West Seattle Art Walk. According to the YarnCore website, the group is part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – #204 – one of the benefit sales. (Sale day is this Saturday, 9 am-3 pm, find the online map and a link to the printable map here. And more on Art Walk, coming up separately.)

Both the online and “printable” maps for this Saturday’s 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – 256 sales, big and small, all over the peninsula! – are available now, as the big day nears. In case you missed the debut of the latter, late last night, you can download it here (12-page PDF). For those who absolutely cannot print it out, we’re distributing a limited amount of pre-printed copies to a few locations later today (they’re being photocopied right now); more on that later.

The biggest value of the “printable” version is the sale list – we have four sections of actual map in it, but 7 full pages of sale listings, coded by the same numbers you’ll find on the online-only map version (which you will find here on its own WSB page – if you have already browsed it and just want to make notes about individual sales, each one is printable from the info-bubble that comes up when you click a line or marker).

Note that we have made notations for the BENEFIT, BLOCK SALE, and GROUP SITE locations – and also, the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day Facebook page continues to amass wall posts from both sellers offering more details on what they have, and buyers who are looking for specific items.

In the meantime, we’ll see you 9 am-3 pm this Saturday, May 14th (cloudy forecast for now but they say that every year, and last year the sun broke out), from Sale #256 in the south, to Sale #99 in the north, from Sale #126 in the west to Sale #249 in the east … and 252 others inbetween!

A few updates, with the 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day just four days away! This Saturday (May 14th), 257 sales big and small all over West Seattle.

MAP UPDATE: The online map has been out for a few days, linked from the sidebar as well as from its own tab in our top navigation (look for Garage Sale Map – here is the direct link). You can also see it full-screen-width at the site of the company we wound up using after Google Maps, for the first time in four years, proved overtaxed by 250-plus listings (scrambling the map after they were entered, oh well!) – so go here to see that version (be sure to choose VIEW then LIST to get the numbers and address list on the right). Benefits of this new map program – you can print individual listings (click on a listing on the list, and the info bubble that opens will have a print icon, as well as a way to plot directions); it still has Google Maps-type controls, for zooming in/out, etc. However, we’ve had to reinvent the way we make the PRINTABLE map, so that is not quite done but we should have it linked here sometime this evening.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING SPECIFIC? WANT TO PROMOTE YOUR SALE? Go join the conversation on the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day page on Facebook, where both of the above have been happening – between buyers and sellers. We also invite you to use this for uploading photos on sale day. We still have the official website but FB works in this case, if you use it, for faster interaction directly between participants.

WANT TO JOIN IN? Registration closed two weeks ago BUT there are a few spaces left at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (4410 California SW; WSB sponsor) – 10 x 10, e-mail lora@hotwirecoffee.com or drop by the shop – and VFW Post #2713 (3601 SW Alaska) group sites (e-mail rzuber@clearwire.net OR just show up on Saturday morning, he expects there to be some room left). Lora also says that if you have items you’d just like to give to somebody to sell, you can drop them off (gently used) at Hotwire 7 am-7 pm this week and Animals First Foundation would be glad to have them for their Hotwire table.

Remember that most of The Viaduct is closed for most of Saturday, so there’s an extra reason not to leave West Seattle – just stay and shop (if you’re not among the sellers). But still encourage friends, relatives, co-workers to come on over – I-5, 1st Avenue South, etc., are not that tough to navigate! Again this year, we’re promoting WSCGSD outside West Seattle as well, in hopes folks will show up, shop, and then enjoy lunch (maybe even dinner) at our awesome local restaurants.

With the Alaskan Way Viaduct closed for part of the day, it’s a better-than-ever reason not to even bother thinking about leaving the peninsula on Saturday, May 14th. West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day will have more than 250 sales on the map by the time we’re done – what you see at left is a screen grab of the rough-cut map ***with only about two-thirds of the addresses input so far*** (once they’re all in, we number the sales, north to south, west to east).

From Admiral to Alki to The Arroyos to Highland Park to Pigeon Point and beyond, you will find sales in your neighborhood on May 14th – and you will find reasons to go explore West Seattle neighborhoods you’ve never visited. Since West Seattle can certainly be reached without using The Viaduct, we encourage you to invite your friends, relatives, co-workers all to c’mon over. As we go through the list, we are making sublists of the benefits, the block sales, the unusual items, and once we publish the maps – still trying hard to make the promised date of next Saturday! – you’ll want to peruse and preview. One neighborhood’s having what they call a mini-street fair; one school has a sale with more than 100 families participating … This is HUGE.

If you have stuff to sell but didn’t make the deadline … you can still check with the group sites that had tables to offer – Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) plus the Ginomai lot across the alley, lora@hotwirecoffee.com … the VFW Post 2713 Hall in The Triangle (e-mail Commander Ron Zuber at rzuber@clearwire.net) … Cycle University in The Triangle (contact info on their website at cycleu.com) … and C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), e-mail candpco@comcast.net. Plus you can stop by any of the aforementioned sites to see about signing up in person.

Two other things – We are reminded (thanks, Kris!) that May 14th is also Stamp Out Hunger Day, the annual postal carriers’ food drive, so before you go out to sell OR shop, be sure to leave a bag of nonperishable food by your mailbox for your carrier to pick up. And the other events around West Seattle that day include one that’s bought a spot on the map – the West Seattle Kiwanis Classic Car Show and Motorcycle Poker Run, which is offering a barbecue too, 4700 Fauntleroy Way.

Sale hours are 9 am-3 pm; watch here, on the WSB Facebook page, on the Garage Sale Day Facebook page, and on the official WSCGSD website for the announcement of the map, plus other info.

One more quick mention that we’re in the final 3 hours of registration for the 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, coordinated/presented by WSB – deadline is 11:59 pm tonight. This year’s lineup for sale day on May 14th is looking pretty astounding – around 240 sales so far, big and small, north and south, east and west. Once signups close, we start organizing everything for the map, which will be available online by May 7th, and promoted widely so garage-sale fans from all around the region will know this is THE place to be on May 14th. If you haven’t registered your sale yet but want to be part of what we fondly consider a massive one-day person-to-person recycling effort – go here before 11:59 pm. Then tomorrow, the previews begin!

One day left to sign up for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – 26 hours, to be precise – and the sellers who already have registered have set a record! The unofficial number at this hour is 210. Since more are likely to come in, that means this is going to be one amazing buying-and-selling-and-mingling spree, 9 am-3 pm on Saturday, May 14th.

Registration closes at 11:59 pm tomorrow (Wednesday) night, which gives us the lead time to get going on the maps (online-only Google version, and “fixed” printable version) so they will be available no later than one week before sale day. The links will be here, on the Garage Sale Day website and WSCGSD Facebook page, and on the semi-new – have YOU “liked” it yet? – WSB FB page. And we encourage you to invite all your non-West Seattle friends and relatives to come on over, wander the peninsula, shop like mad, enjoy coffee/lunch somewhere here too, then happily head back to their own neighborhoods with fond memories of a great day.

If you’ve been procrastinating and are ready to sign up YOUR sale – from a table in front of your house, to your entire block/business/school – find the link on this page. (Be sure you receive TWO confirmations – one from us, one from PayPal after you’ve paid the registration fee. If you have any problems, call us at 206-293-6302. And if you’ve signed up but you do NOT have the PayPal confirmation, please e-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com, to make sure your sale gets on the list!)

Whether you’re planning to sell or shop, thanks in advance for being part of the 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (the fourth year WSB has presented/coordinated it)!

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2011 – with four days left to register, 165 sales of all sizes are already on the list for sale day May 14th, and awaiting the map we’ll be making as soon as registration closes Wednesday night.

So far, taking a quick look through the list, we have sales from all five West Seattle zip codes, including at least 10 block sales, 5 business sales, 4 fundraisers, 3 service clubs, 2 sports groups, 2 schools, a music group, a retirement center, an apartment building, a church, a P-Patch – and of course, the four sites where you can sell your stuff if there’s no way to do it at your own place (Hotwire Online Coffeehouse and C & P Coffee Company – both WSB sponsors – plus the VFW Hall, and if you have bikes/gear, Cycle U).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Half a dozen people who registered did not complete the second step – paying the registration fee via PayPal. Maybe that just means you had second thoughts, and that’s OK; but if you didn’t complete the second step, you’re not signed up. We’ll be sending notes to the folks who didn’t go through step 2, to doublecheck, but you’re also welcome – if you’re not certain you fully finished the registration process – to send us a note asking that we check your status (garagesale@westseattleblog.com).

Meantime, if you are ready to sign up now, here’s where to do it! And if you’re participating – or even if you’re “just” shopping – be sure to “like” the WSCGSD page on Facebook; we’ll be creating an “event” page shortly for you to share with friends, family, anybody within traveling distance who might want to come spend the day garage-saling on our gorgeous peninsula. The clickable and downloadable versions of the map will be done no later than one week before sale day, and are free to anyone and everyone, so you’ll be able to share those too. Thanks for being part of the region’s biggest Community Garage Sale Day – the 7th annual edition, and WSB’s fourth year coordinating/presenting it – think of it as one big day of recycling, and of meeting more of your West Seattle neighbors. 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 14th!

For sellers and shoppers, May 14th is shaping up as another day to remember, as more than 130 sales are already registered for the 7th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (ahead of last year’s pace, with the final 2010 count a record 200+). In terms of size and location, the sales are literally all over the map – we have schools, businesses, fundraisers, individual homes, and group sites too. We wanted to let you know that one week remains till the registration deadline, which is 11:59 pm next Wednesday night, April 27. After that, as your WSCGSD sponsors/organizers, we get to work on the maps (we make two versions – online-only clickable Google Map, and printable/downloadable version including the “ad” listings describing the sales). So if you haven’t signed up yet but you’re planning on being part of it, why procrastinate? Just go here now! (Again this year, all signups are online.)

If you have a a tableful of items you’d like to sell but not enough room at your own home (or no interest in inviting people over), here are the group sites we know of: Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor), 4410 California SW, sign up at the shop or e-mail info@hotwirecoffee.com; C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 5612 California SW, sign up at the shop or e-mail candpco@comcast.net; VFW Hall, 3601 SW Alaska, sign up at the hall or call 206-935-4352; if you have bikes/gear, contact Cycle University, 4550 Fauntleroy SW, 206-432-9982.

If you’re not selling, just mark your calendar to get out and browse around – meet neighbors, look for deals, enjoy what we hope will be another sunny West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – 9 am-3 pm, and be sure to invite your friends/family from other areas of the city/region too – we promote WSCGSD regionally with the hopes lots of folks will show up to see the splendor of our peninsula, shop in West Seattle stores, have lunch in West Seattle restaurants, make a day out of it. Oh, and here’s that registration link again!