North Liberty Citywide Garage Sales
An epic annual shopping event in the big little city of North Liberty, IowaCOVID-19 UPDATE
Posted May 11, 2020
This year’s event has been rescheduled to July 9-11, 2020. We understand the situation is fluid, so we’ll continue to monitor public health guidelines between now and then, and will update you all if the situation changes.
We will provide guidance for both sellers and shoppers about how to safely browse garage sales in light of COVID-19, including considerations related to social distancing and contactless payment methods. More guidance will be available as the date comes closer.
Thanks, and take care.
~Lydia, Erin, and Liz
2020 Event Details
When: July 9-11 (Thursday through Saturday).
Where: North Liberty, Iowa
Where to get the list of sales
Everything shoppers need to know is on the Get the List page. The list will be available for download July 8 around 12PM.
How to get your garage sale on the list
We’ll open up the list for submissions in late June 2020. It’s just $5 to add your sale to the list, no matter how long your listing description is. We accept credit or debit card for payment through our secure payment system.
Find details on the Sell Your Stuff page. And be sure to check out Garage Sale 101, where you’ll find do’s & don’ts to have a stellar (and profitable!) garage sale. Deadline to submit: Wednesday July 8 at 6AM sharp.
How many sales will there be?
Go to the List Stats page to see real-time info about this year’s list.
The number of sales in past years:
- 2015: 154 sales
- 2016: 187 sales
- 2017: 216 sales
- 2018: 202 sales
- 2019: 206 sales
Official Sponsor
Contact us to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.
History
For 35 years, North Liberty held its citywide garage sales in conjunction with the annual Fun Days celebration. Held the second weekend in June, Fun Days included a carnival and fundraisers for local nonprofits. In 2014, citing a weakened bottom line, the planning committee canceled Fun Days indefinitely.
The loss of Fun Days was disappointing, but more upsetting was the loss of the citywide garage sales—the highlight of the weekend for many.
Local resident Lydia Fine had been a shopper at the sales in the past and saw the opportunity to modernize the Garage Sale List by incorporating technology. Fine volunteered to coordinate the garage sale list in 2015, and has been managing the event ever since.
Two of Fine’s friends, Erin Foster and Liz Pearson, began volunteering with the event in 2017, helping Lydia to manage communication around the event, including online promotion and social media.
Since 2015, the sales have grown and the organization of the event has gotten more sophisticated. The first year, sales were Saturday only. Year two expanded to include Thursday and Friday. Citywide Garage Sales now encompasses three days of bargain-hunting nirvana (Thursday through Saturday), with more than 200 sales on the list, an interactive Google Map, downloadable lists by day, and a customizable Excel list for the super-planners out there.
If you’re interested in partnering with the citywide garage sales, have a question or suggestion, or just want to say “Hey ladies, nice work!”, email the coordinators.
