After a wildly successful inaugural national event in 2011, the multiple award winning program, Garage Sale Trail is back in 2012, and this year, everything is for sale.
Taking place on May 5th of 2012, the Garage Sale Trail welcomes everybody from households, local businesses, cultural institutions, charities, schools, libraries and community groups to participate in the biggest real-world, community-based market-place in Australia.
“We learned from last year’s program that Garage Sale Trail isn’t just about households getting involved. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to make some money, raise money for a cause and make positive community connections. It’s all about discovery and sustainability; discovering pre-loved and hand-made goods, discovering and connecting with locals in your local area and of course keeping a whole load of stuff out of landfill,” adds Co-Founder Andrew Valder.
“You don’t even need a garage, just host a sale with friends, neighbours or community group. Buying something second-hand instead of a new product saves you money, saves natural resources and reduces the amount of rubbish going to landfill,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP.
Held at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden, against the backdrop of the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Valder and Nichols welcomed guests to the official launch of Garage Sale Trail 2012 presented by the City of Sydney. Lord Mayor Clover Moore made a formal address at the launch, hosted by Garage sale Trail ambassadors Tracey Spicer and Brendan Moar, as Andrew and Darryl shared a range of exciting developments for this year’s program including an impressive line up of new ambassadors and supporters.
Acclaimed fashion designer Marnie Skillings was present at the launch. “This program is great for the wider fashion community. For those who want to clear out their wardrobe, for brands who want to hold sample sales and to aspiring fashion designers and makers and creators who can use this as a way of showcasing their talents,” says Marnie. It’s also the such a great way to nab a great find.” Skillings adds.
A program that was initially aimed at households, Garage Sale Trail 2011 was adopted by a range of organizations and groups including cultural institutions, local businesses, makers and creators, community groups and charities as they made their own interpretation of what garage sales are all about.
One such example of this is Friends of the Botanic Gardens who have taken to the program and who this year will be running a garage sale to raise money for their Foundation, connect with the community and practice sustainability.
“The Royal Botanic Garden involvement is an example of a cultural institution who’s supporting the 2012 campaign. Friends of the Botanic Gardens will be hosting a second hand book and plant sale on the BIG day Saturday May-5, 2012,” Says Brendan Moar, official ambassador of the Garage Sale Trail 2012. “There’ll be a range of begonias, blue ginger, Australian natives, plus a number of unusual herbs, bromeliads, native orchids and native ground covers to name but a few,” he adds. In addition to this schools and libraries have also confirmed their involvement in this year’s program.
The project first took place in Bondi 2010 as part of a community festival and has grown rapidly since. “The last 12 months has been an amazing journey for Garage Sale Trail. We went from an event in one suburb to last year having over 3000 households participate in sales that attracted over 75000 shoppers nationally and redistributed over 50,000kgs of items. We were honoured to receive sustainability awards both here and internationally, and this year we’re stoked to announce that local government participation has almost doubled meaning our program is just growing and growing. The support we are getting locally and internationally is amazing,” said Co-Founder Darryl Nichols.
Council participation has already doubled to date and City of Melbourne have also signed onto the program for 2012 bringing to life various activations within their area.
By registering sales at www.garagesaletrail.com.au participants can list items for sale have their sale details included in all Garage Sale Trail marketing and be eligible to receive a registration pack (for those within participating council areas). To make it easy for buyers and sellers to connect and sell on the day, there are two major technology developments with Garage Sale Trail 2012.
Consumer review and business directory site, TrueLocal.com.au has partnered with Garage Sale Trail providing the location of on-the-day sales onto its mobile site making it easier for shoppers with smartphones to navigate the day. Shoppers type m.truelocal.com.au into their smartphone browser to access a map and garage sale trail locations.”
To make cashless payments easy on the day, secure payments innovator PayPal, is supporting the Garage Sale Trail community by encouraging sellers and buyers to make payments via their mobile phones, eliminating the need for cash.
Adrian Christie, PayPal, commented: “Garage Sale Trail is a fantastic initiative that facilitates trade within local communities. We are delighted to support Garage Sale Trail by providing communities with a safe and secure way to make payments on the day.”
Find more details at: www.garagesale.trail.com.au
2012 ambassadors to date:
Dave Rastovich
Marnie Skillings
Angus Stone
Sibella Court
Liane Rossler
Pip Edwards
Tracey Spicer
Brendan Moar
Jay Laga ‘aia
Simon Marnie
About Garage Sale Trail
Garage Sale Trail is a community-based market place that happens all over Australia on one day, May 5th, 2012. With roots in sustainability, Garage Sale Trail is all about discovery, creativity, community and micro-enterprise.
