City-Wide Garage Sales a Treasure Hunt in Inver Grove Heights

It was a garage sale-goer’s paradise throughout Inver Grove Heights during the annual Citywide Garage Sale on Aug. 25-27.  Fantastic weather greeted eager shoppers, who were out looking for even more fantastic deals at almost 75 participating homes throughout the community. 

The organized city event was an early start to Inver Grove Heights Days, an annual celebration, which runs from Sept. 8-11.

For three days, baby items, bikes and bedroom sets beckoned rubberneckers searching city streets with official garage sale maps in hand. They followed neon “This way to the sale” lawn signs and found furniture, sporting goods, framed art, holiday items, baskets, old vinyl, cassette and VHS tapes—and even a green feathery hat from a past State Fair, adorned with Benjamins.

One of the garage sale operators, Joan Marsollek, pointed out an attractive 31-piece glassware set that her neighbor brought over for the sale, priced at $15. Candle holders and other table adornments surrounded the set.

Inside Marsollek's garage, an even more prominent display of mint-condition Beanie Babies lured shoppers. Marsollek's daughter, Maureen Ventura, was selling the collectible stuffed animals for just $1 each, or six for $5. Some came in pre-packaged sets. Garage sale-goers flocked to that table and found almost every cute creature imaginable.

“I collected them for about three or four years while I was in college,” Ventura explained. Ventura preserved the creatures in Tupperware containers, which kept them in perfect condition. Even the Beanie Babies' individual tags were protected.

“They were just sitting around, so I decided to sell all the non-bear ones. I kept the bears; it’s hard to part with them.”

“We’ll donate whatever doesn’t sell to the Children’s Hospital,” said Marsollek—an idea that came from her husband. “The neighbor kids just keep coming back to get one more Beanie Baby – it’s so cute.”

A few miles away, Don and Ardi Roberts’s “Emptying the Nest Sale” was a vintage collector’s goldmine. The antique sale items were displayed were spread across their garage and driveway. But even the inside of couple’s home and the next-door neighbor’s yard served as impromptu staging areas.

A vintage General Electric portable bonnet hair dryer was one of the rarest finds at the sale. But it wasn't the only vintage item: A G.E. portable record player sat nearby, along with historic cigar boxes, collectible comic books, toys that Fischer Price simply doesn’t make anymore and Milton Bradley board games from decades ago that may never be found in stores again.

Another blast from the past—a complete 1970 Childcraft encyclopedia set in hardly-used condition, along with World Book encyclopedias
and Year Books—were on sale for a grand total of $2.

“Yep—before we had the Internet, we had these,” said Debi Tompkins, the couple’s daughter.

Tompkins explained that her parents saved numerous items over the year. Now that her parents were downsizing from their house to a townhome down the street, it was time to part with them.

With a smile, Ardi enjoyed describing her husband Don’s history in the community as well: “He taught for 29 years at Simley—he was one of the original 19 faculty members in 1960,” she said. “He was the head basketball coach and assistant football coach.”

That day, Don was in charge of the many pieces of furniture for sale, displayed in their neighbor’s yard.

Kathy Colberg, a friend of the Roberts, was on hand to help with the mint condition antiques and vintage treasures displayed in their living room.

“They kept everything perfect,” she said. “There’s more than 50 years of stuff here. Their parents were born in the late 1800’s—some of these belonged to them. Some of these were [Ardi’s] childhood toys.
They really taught their kids to take good care of their stuff.”

It took more than a week to set up all of the items for the sale, Colberg said.

“We put tags on over 1,500 items—we ran out and had to start using
masking tape,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of [garage] sales for people, and this one tops them all.”