Annual yard sales remain an Orrville staple

Three years ago Tammy Dalessandro and Rene Mack stepped in to keep alive the tradition of Orrville’s annual city-wide yard sales. The chamber of commerce oversaw the sales, which have been an establishment since just after the turn of the century.

When, according to Dalessandro, the chamber decided it did not want to keep that ritual going, she and Mack stepped in and made sure the sales did continue. They’ll be renewed this year Aug. 4-5.

“We have done it for the past three years,” Dalessandro said. “Nobody was going to be doing it. We said, ‘You know what? We always had people setting up in our parking lot for the yard sales.’ When the chamber said, ‘We’re not going to do it anymore,’ we said, ‘Someone has to keep it going.’”

And it has kept going. Dalessandro said the sales are an important staple for the Orrville community. She said most surrounding municipalities have similar events. Seville’s in North Central Wayne County may be the best known.

The sales aren’t just a time and way for people to unload their junk. They present a way to bring people to the city and get a look at all parts of Orrville, maybe spend a buck or two in town at area businesses.

“We mostly just wanted to do it for the community,” Dalessandro said. “We wanted to see someone take over and do it. We kind of do our own advertising. We make up a little flyer and pass it out and put it on our Facebook page and a couple of the Orrville sites. We really don’t get anything out of it. It does bring people from out of town, though.”

This year Dalessandro and Mack decided on a new tack. For years the sale was held the first weekend of October. Ohio being Ohio, that could mean some iffy weather — if not terrible conditions.

“We had a lot of complaints because the weather was so nasty then,” Dalessandro said. “We had people contact us to see if we would consider changing the dates. We put out some feelers, and 90% of the people were in agreeance. We have had rain, snow, sleet, freezing, god-awful weather in October.”

The yard sale is sort of a hobby among Dalessandro and Mack’s full-time vocation. They own Journey in Time, a shop just past Orrville’s south border on state Route 57.

What started out as an antiques store has evolved into a giant outlet that sells far more than antiques. You can get a little bit of everything there.

“We found out there’s not as many people that like antiques as much as they used to,” Dalessandro said. “We get a lot of people saying, ‘You’re not an antique store; we’re not coming there anymore.’ If we only had antiques, we wouldn’t have lasted this long.”

In conjunction with the yard sales, Journey in Time will host Woody’s BBQ, a food truck rolling in from the Lake Milton area in Portage County. You’re likely to see a food truck parked in front of the store on nearly any date.

“We’re open to food trucks any time,” Dalessandro said. “We have a great spot. They’re always welcome to come and sit on our parking lot.”

The ladies also have been hosting Market Days outside their stores. On the second and fourth Saturdays of each month until Oct. 14, Journey in Time will host local vendors who make, bake, grow or create from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We just started that this year,” Dalessandro said. “We were just going to do like a farmers market with produce. We had such a good response. People were wanting to bring all kinds of things. We just wanted to open it up as a pop-up market. We’ve had a lot of requests to extend it. As long as people want to come, we’ll have it.”