Maybe it’s the sunshine. We have received two phone calls in the past hour or so inquiring about this. So maybe we shouldn’t wait any longer for a reminder: Yes, WSB **is** sponsoring the fifth annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day this year — our second year sponsoring the event, which was created by the late, great nonprofit Megawatt. It’ll be on Saturday, May 9th. If you’re new to West Seattle or somehow missed last year, you can check out some of the coverage on our companion site, westseattlegaragesale.com (beware, we haven’t updated it lately, but scroll down and you’ll see all the posts from last year’s event). We’ll announce registration dates and other key facts soon.

As you might recall, for our first year as organizers of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (the 4th-annual edition was this past Saturday), we added a couple contests to the mix, asking entrants to e-mail us photo entries by mid-afternoon today. That big bag of duck decoys shown above is the “Most Unusual Item” winner (open to shoppers as well as sellers) — Pam (who writes Nerd’s Eye View) reports she found it at the alley sale near 37th/Holden. Pam gets a Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) card. Meanwhile, we promised two prizes in the contest with the most entries, and that was “Best Sign” — our winners are:

Cheryl gets the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) gift certificate for that sign promoting the sale that raised money for her upcoming participation in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk (Sept. 12-14; her fundraising page is here; you’ll recall the 3-Day came thru West Seattle last year – WSB coverage here). (P.S. Cheryl says teammate and garage=sale-mate Jana Sorsen made the sign; here’s Jana’s 3-Day page.) And the other “Best Sign” winner:

That’s Val, who proudly reports about her sign, “Please note: all materials used were recycled from a party a couple of years ago, nothing was purchased!” Val gets a gift certificate from the new Body Bar dayspa. And we have one more bonus prize:

Ashley, who joined other sellers in the Hotwire courtyard, was the only person to enter BOTH contests; we have a Hotwire coffee card for her too. The photo shows her beautifully lettered sign (her candidate for “Most Unusual Item” was betta-fish tanks she offered for sale). Congratulations to all (we’ll e-mail the winners to make arrangements for delivering prizes); thanks to Hotwire, Illusions, and Body Bar for donating the prizes; thanks to everyone who was part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day; stand by for an online survey we’ll be setting up within a few days, and mark your calendar for the 5th annual WSCGSD on May 9, 2009!

Did you shop? Did you sell? Did you have fun? Since we filed so many separate updates, we thought we’d put up this “open thread” post specifically for comments wtih WSCGSD reports, if you care to share ’em. We’ll have an official survey within a few days seeking feedback for next year, but if you have something to suggest now, that’s welcome here too. (P.S., don’t forget the contests.) Thanks to EVERYONE who was part of the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day in some form or another; our first time organizing it has been intense but fun! (Now it’s off to round up the sandwich boards …)

“Christmas at Skylark” (3803 Delridge), as dubbed by Patrick the Sales Guy, who has been making most of the photography rounds today. However, in the past hour, your editor here and Junior Member of the Team broke away from WSB HQ to see what’s up. Dropped by a couple sales incognito, west of California, north of The Junction; bought strawberry lemonade from the kids at 47th/Dakota, wandered into an alley sale a few blocks east and got the unsolicited proclamation from the saleholder that “All the good stuff’s gone; it’s been a busy morning.” Well, not ALL the good stuff; Junior Member was furious we wouldn’t let him spend $5 on a big hulking scanner. Meantime, back at the sales – here’s the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle sale at 5637 42nd SW:

Along Fauntleroy (5962), two pix from the PB&J Textiles sale:

We drove through The Junction and noted group sale sites in the vicinity were still jumping, as were Junction businesses (megaline outside Bakery Nouveau, even at 1:30 pm). There’s still an hour to shop; get a map here if you need it.

BULLETIN! Sunshine just broke out at the halfway mark. Now, more of the bigger sites:

That’s the bake sale at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council sale, 2512 SW Genesee, raising money for tot-size play equipment at Cottage Grove Park. Heading northwest from there:

Booming business when we stopped by the Log House Museum sale (3003 61st SW). Next – in the Admiral District, Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor; 2210 California SW) is participating:

South of The Junction, there’s a group sale (like Hotwire & Freshy’s, both shown earlier) at C and P Coffee (5612 California SW):

Alki UCC church (6115 SW Hinds) is having a plant sale as part of WSCGSD:

And here’s another one of the fundraising sales – a multifamily sale at 4136 Beach Drive, raising money for the American Cancer Society:

Sales continue till 3 pm; get your map here.

That’s Amber Bennett, proprietor of Freshy’s Coffee at 2735 California SW, holding their entry for the “Best Sign” contest – one of two contests we’re having as part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day today — “Best Sign” is for sellers; photograph your creative sign(s) and e-mail the photo after the sale to garagesale@westseattleblog.com; “Most Unusual Item” is for shoppers OR sellers – e-mail a photo and tell us which participating sale you bought/sold it at – same address, garagesale@westseattleblog.com. Prize for “Most Unusual Item” is a Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor and sale location today) card; prize for “Best Sign” is an Illusions (WSB sponsor) gift certificate; whichever contest gets the most entries will also have a second prize awarded, a gift certificate from the new Body Bar massage/skin care dayspa; winners will be announced Monday night. Back to Freshy’s for a sec – they’re doing the “Handmade Brigade” arts/crafts sale as well as yard-sale stuff – here’s a look down their sidewalk across from Hiawatha:

More group-sale updates coming up next. The sales continue till 3 pm; get your map here.

That’s Gina (left) and JanS from the WSB Forum Community, at their sale @ 2655 45th SW (near Lafayette). Part of the sale is raising $ for Jan, a longtime WSB’er who’ll be out of work a while after hip-replacement surgery this week – some items are offered at whatever you’re willing to pay as a free-will donation; read more about this sale in this thread on the forum. (More updates to come; sales continue till 3 pm; get your map here.)

ADDED 10:29 AM: Those are photos from 7138 32nd SW, a sale raising money for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which fights childhood cancer. The family hosting the sale has a child fighting cancer, and is telling their story online here. (Click the address in that sentence to see where it’s at on the Google version of the WSCGSD map; get the printable map here.) ORIGINAL UPDATE: Another round of photos is headed this way – first some anecdotal observations, as the WSB team member who’s not on photo patrol took a quick side trip down the hill to the store – saw lots of folks browsing the sales in the Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy area – and the sky’s getting lighter all the time! P.S. If you just can’t find a preprinted map (we know our official locations still have some, we checked this morning), we’ve also put a few out in a box by our sandwich board sign near WSB HQ – look for it @ California/Thistle.

That’s the courtyard next to Hotwire Coffee, one of today’s group-sale spots (proprietor Lora offered space in exchange for a nominal donation to Furry Faces, a West Seattle-based animal-rescue group). Next — after stopping at the Community School of West Seattle megasale (see previous post), we hopped a couple blocks over to 9211 21st SW, where the sale’s in the back yard:

(Map/list of all sales available here.)

Brief shower at 8 am. We can see breaks in the clouds behind it, so don’t panic. Meantime, our roving field crew just stopped at the Community School of West Seattle; they started at 8 am – by 8:05 they’d already made $100! 9450 22nd SW. (Photo above) (Map/list of all sales available here.)

From the National Weather Service, updated at 4 am, still looks like the rain (aside from a spatter or two) SHOULD hold off till AFTER West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day‘s official shopping time ends @ 3 pm:

TODAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF RAIN THIS AFTERNOON. HIGHS NEAR 60. SOUTH WIND TO 10 MPH.

TONIGHT…RAIN LIKELY IN THE EVENING…THEN CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

Need a WSCGSD map/list? Get it here.

More updates as West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day approaches (9 am-3 pm tomorrow): Just before their second night of donation-accepting ended at 8 pm tonight, we stopped to see the Pigeon Point Neighborhood reps at Cooper Elementary (which benefits from their sale) …as you can see above, quite a haul. Also a possible candidate for the Most Unusual Item contest (can you guess what it is? PP Council prez Pete Spalding showed it off):

If you’re going to Pigeon Point, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council sale raising money for Cottage Grove Park play equipment is a stone’s throw away at 2512 SW Genesee. Here’s one of the items they hope to buy for the neighborhood’s littlest kids to play on:

Other neighborhood/block/business/group sales: The Community School of West Seattle, 9450 22nd SW, with more than 100 families participating – this was the first sale to sign up this year! … Block/multifamily sales include 8818 18th SW, 4115 32nd SW, 4136 Beach Drive, 6701 21st SW, SW Dakota between 46th and 47th, 3260 42nd SW, 5406 36th SW. Three coffeehouses on California SW have multi-participant sales: Hotwire (WSB sponsor) at 4410 California, C and P at 5612 California, and Freshy’s at 2735 California … Other businesses with sales include Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) at 2210 California, Skylark at 3803 Delridge, PB&J Textiles at 5962 Fauntleroy, Westside Glassworks at 1904 SW Dawson. And while we don’t know how big their sale will be, we were excited that our first West Seattle Neighborhood Garage Sale Day sign sighting — a sign not put up by us, anyway — was on a utility pole steps away from WSB HQ!

Quick links again:
*Printable map with sale listings (8-page PDF)
*List of places to get preprinted map if you don’t have printer access
*Clickable Google map showing all sales (so you can take a closer look at locations)

As we publish this, it’s 33 hours till the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (got your map yet?). Putting it together has been a blast. Now, it’s up to the shoppers and sellers (and the weather). Three updates:

EVERYBODY: We have yet another prize up for grabs in the WSCGSD contests – whichever contest gets more entries, we’ll award two prizes. In addition to the Illusions gift certificate and Hotwire coffee card (both WSB sponsors), tonight we received a gift certificate from the new Body Bar day spa north of The Junction (more on them tomorrow). The contests are: For shoppers AND sellers, “Most Unusual Item”; for sellers, “Best Sign.” For both contests, take photos of your entry and e-mail them to us at garagesale@westseattleblog.com; we’ll announce the winners here and at westseattlegaragesale.com Monday night.

SHOPPERS: Another advance shoutout to the sales that are raising $ for causes, and an addition: 7717 California is donating proceeds to the Orca Network. In addition, 9450 22nd SW is The Community School of West Seattle‘s big annual fundraising sale; 2512 SW Genesee is North Delridge Neighborhood Council raising $ for tot play equipment at Cottage Grove Park (more tomorrow on a chance to get involved with that NEXT weekend); 19th & SW Genesee is Pigeon Point Neighborhood on behalf of Cooper Elementary; 3003 61st SW is the Log House Museum‘s fundraiser; 7138 32nd SW is raising $ for childhood-cancer research via Alex’s Lemonade Stand (and will be selling lemonade too!) – read their personal story here; a few blocks south at 7955 32nd SW, a leukemia patient gets half the proceeds; 3919 41st SW benefits the Breast Cancer 3-Day; 1418 Palm is donating proceeds to the animal-rescue group Homeward Pet; 5637 42nd SW is on behalf of Kiwanis Club of West Seattle; 6115 SW Hinds is Alki UCC with its annual plant sale; and before you leave the house (or set up your sale) on Saturday, please put out a bag of nonperishable food for the annual Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers’ food drive!

ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD SELLERS: Your Neighborhood Association needs your help. It, like other neighborhood groups, is building a neighborhood disaster-readiness kit and would love donations of any of the following items if you’ve come across them while getting ready for your sales, or if they’re left over after sale day. Read on:Read More

We have just posted a three-part update at the official West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day site (westseattlegaragesale.com), including the prizes confirmed for the contests (both contests are open to sellers; one is also open to shoppers!) and the latest on The Map. Final confirmed count: 144 sales! If you have time to browse through the WSCGSD site, we’ve been posting some infobits about sales, participants, and more.