Community Corner
The Vernon Townwide Tag Sale
It part business, part adventure and part social event. Either way, it's a rite of spring.
It is indeed a rite of spring in Vernon.
At 7:45 a.m., five women were huddled in a driveway on Crestridge Drive, pointing to a map. The designated secretary of the group was highlighting streets on which homes were having tag sales.
They turned out of the street, went right on Center Road and went right on Vernon Summit Road. One of them spotted a children's climbing apparatus with a slide, so they stopped the car to let her out. She paid the homeowner, who in turn put a sold sticker on the item.
The woman said she would arrange for pickup later.
As the group was exiting, a line of cars was snaking its way up the road toward the home.
Welcome to the annual Vernon Townwide Tag Sale.
This year 50 homes were on the ''official'' list at the Tolland County Chamber of Commerce , but many others improvised with homemade placards posted all around town.
Some residents participated to pass on outgrown children's items to those who needed them.
Others were moving and needed to lighten the load. Still more just wanted to get ride of stuff. Sacred Heart Church had a tag sale to raise money for mission and church projects.
The tag sale is part business and part social event. In the center of town, one family was trying to earn a little pocket change, while two couples who were in the same birthing class together at that tag sale had a chance to show each other their children as they browsed through items in the driveway.
The tag sale even spills into neighboring towns. Two families on Moser Drive in Ellington, situated close to the Vernon line, took advantage of the situation and set up tag sales in their front yards. A steady stream of cars came by all morning.
And there is always a funny story each year. One man and his three daughters were cruising around, looking for backyard toys. He saw a slide sitting on a front yard.
"How much? This would be perfect,'' he said the the homeowner after exiting the car.
"It's sold,'' the homeowner responded. "A lady came by early this morning and bought it. She just needs to arrange pickup. The sold sticker must have blown off in the wind.''
As he was leaving, his cell phone rang. It was his wife.
"You should see the slide I bought,'' she said.
Yep. It was that slide.
