BLAINE – (April 23, 2020) – One of the area’s largest community garage sales would normally be just weeks away, but this year, Blaine is asking residents to change their plans.
“During this time, we are asking people not to hold garage sales,” said City of Blaine communications manager Ben Hayle.
The city reached out to the Johnsville garage sale Facebook group, and asked that they share a message from the city. A message asking for no garage sales until social distancing guidelines can be safely lifted.
“We reached out to the Johnsville group, just because we know that’s a big event, and we knew it was coming up. Part of reaching out to that group was because that Facebook group has 5,000 followers, and that website has a lot of people that would come there to get information.”
Shopping at a garage sale is different from shopping at a store, said Hayle. And the city came to this decision because of how garage sales work.
“We just know the nature of those type of sales. It’s mingling around, it’s talking to people, it’s picking up different items,” said Hayle. “There’s a lot of common touch points.”
The city hasn’t given any timeline for when they will give the green light to garage sales again, but they will continue to reach out to the community about all large gatherings for the time being.
“We are asking people to respect the social distancing guidelines that have been put out,” said Hayle. “Bringing people together who aren’t normally together….it’s just not the right time for that.”
Some responses to the Facebook post expressed sadness, and others said they hope to hold a sale in July, overall Hayle says the community has been supportive of the request.
Hayle did say that anyone with concerns or questions about garage sales or any gatherings can email the city at communications@blainemn.gov with their questions.
