SEATTLE -- Laila Basi spent her Saturday helping hagglers at her friend's yard sale in Seattle's South Park neighborhood.
"It's a good idea, and actually brings out the neighborhood," she said. ""When I first came here, I kind of didn't think much of it, but they... bond very well, and I have not seen this kind of neighborhood in Washington and I've lived all over."
Basi's sale was hardly the only one on Rose Street, and Rose Street hardly the only venue for yard sales this weekend.
Dozens of signs around the neighborhood pointed to more than three dozen similar sales around South Park.
All day, neighbors hung clothes and antiques, stacked books and blenders, even sold pickles and guitars. For a day, it seemed, every homeowner and renter in the area became an entrepreneur with poster board and a marker.
"I just met a neighbor who's been here 41 years and she said nothing like this has ever happened before," said Deborah Semer, who organized the event. Semer said she's lived in South Park for three years, and her dream was to have a thousand garage sales all on one day.
Considering the idea only took flight about 3 weeks ago, she's pretty happy with the forty or so they got.
"I really believe in clearing clutter, and it's great to have a community clear clutter together and make fresh space," Deborah said.
But the main reason they put up thousands of items for sale was neither to clear clutter nor to break any records. Rather, Semer said the project was her way to bring attention to a neighborhood that has seen better, and busier, days.
"It was already hard to find in the first place, now it's twice as hard," she said.
"With the bridge closed, it's hard to get here," Basi said.
Demolition began on the condemned South Park bridge about two weeks ago, but neighbors say business has been drying up since the county closed it two months ago. Semers said 20,000 cars used to cross the bridge every day. The projected cost to replace the bridge is more than $130 million.
The intent of the event isn't to pay for the bridge, but rather to be a marketing tool. Semer said that perhaps a mass sale can convince bargain hunters from all over to find their way to South Park, and that might send some foot traffic into its main street businesses.
"The challenge is to get people into South Park," Semer said in a statement. "We hope they stay here all day, exploring the nooks and crannies like our vibrant marina, creative micro-home businesses, brand new skateboard park."
The community-wide sale is supported by Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, said Semer.
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