Jaime Burke plunked $5 down at City Hall on Wednesday to participate in Pottsville's citywide yard sale set for May 4.
"I've never done a yard sale. We have a small house and I just want to get rid of things," said Burke, 31, who lives in the 1200 block of Howard Avenue. "Over the years, it just accumulates."
She said space has become an issue since she's had children, Taylor, 10, and Addison, 14 months.
The citywide yard sale is the first in recent years, Mary Quirk, Pottsville Recreation Commission director, said Wednesday. While she has been director for "four or five years," she couldn't recall the last time Pottsville had a yard sale.
It costs $5 for a homeowner to participate, and the recreation commission is developing a map of the city to show participating homes, Quirk said.
The recreation commission will also stage vendors in the parking lot of the city's Union Station near Progress Avenue and Union Street.
"If you want to rent a table at Union Station and bring your stuff and sell it, you pay us $10 for the table and keep your profits," Quirk said.
As of Wednesday, only two food vendors - Streetside Chill, Orwigsburg, and Kathy Roberts, an ice cream vendor from Pottsville - have signed up for spots at the Union Station parking lot. Only two vendors, Burke and Good-Will Christian Book Store, 310 N. Centre St., had also registered to set up their own tables, Quirk said.
Still, she remained optimistic.
"It's early. We have our feelers out," she said.
Quirk said the recreation commission will borrow tables to set up at Union Station from local businesses, but wasn't sure how many would be set up there.
The sale at Union Station will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 4.
The City of Pottsville's Recreation Commission is a nonprofit service agency for citizens in the Pottsville Area School District, according to the city's website city.pottsville.pa.us.
According to a flier the recreation commission printed for the event, "proceeds from this event will help fund the many events available to the community through the Recreation Commission."
However, Quirk said Wednesday the money collected may be donated to the Sovereign Majestic Theater, 209 N. Centre St., a nonprofit organization managed by Pottsville Area Development Corp.
The commission was hoping to raise $500, the amount needed to become a "star" donor, Quirk said.
When the theater held a capital campaign between 2002 and 2005, it honored donors in numerous ways. Metal stars measuring "4 or 5 inches high" were placed on the wall of the theater lobby to recognize those who donated $500. The donors' names were carved into them, Amy S. Burkhart, PADCO executive director, said Wednesday.
To sign up for the citywide yard sale, call City Hall at 570-622-1234, Ext. 346, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.