contributed photo Marshalltown will host the first-ever city-wide garage sale next weekend.

For the first time, a city-wide garage sale will be held in Marshalltown.

Organized by Heather Niederman, the event is scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As far as she is aware, there has never been a city-wide garage sale. A woman she spoke with had never seen one in the 56 years she lived in town.

“I have no idea why there wasn’t one before,” Niederman said. “Maybe no one stepped up to organize. Maybe it was too time consuming because it is so big to take on. I decided to roll with it and see who comes with me.”

Knowing organization and planning are strengths of hers, she posted on community Facebook pages about the dates, and gave everyone a deadline to enter their sales. The final result is 115 households will participate in the three-day event.

“I was blown away,” Niederman said. “I had tears in my eyes when the first 54 people signed up. I had no idea there would be so many, what this would turn into. The messages I have received were very heartfelt.”

For the people who did not meet the deadline, she said they can still participate and hold their garage sales. They just will not be included in the listing. The garage sale listing will be shared by Niederman on the same community Facebook pages where she posted the dates. In addition to addresses, she will include dates and times the sales are open. A list of items at those sales will not be included, as Niederman did not want the post to be too large.

The dates of Aug. 4-6 were chosen by Niederman because it was the only free weekend she had. Iowa’s tax-free weekend being Aug. 4 and Aug. 5 was a coincidence, but one she was happy to discover.

“A lot of people are going to be out shopping those days,” Niederman said. “I also knew I wanted to have it at the beginning of the month. That is when people get paid, rather than the second or third weekend when bills start arriving. It is also before school, so people are going to be looking for things.”

Having gone to the city-wide garage sale in Conrad in April for years, she loved the organization, making a very smooth event. Niederman likes how the Conrad Chamber is involved, and hopes to attract the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce for future sale events.

The response from interested people was such that Niederman knows she will organize another sale next year. However, she will also try to recruit some helpers as she has done this all on her own.

“This is the first time ever for me doing this,” Niederman said. “Are there flaws, changes to make? Absolutely.”

Ideally, Niederman would like to provide shoppers with a map of the locations for the next event. She wants to have it designed, printed out and available for pick-up throughout town. Sorting the sales by quadrants is also something Niederman would like to do, since the households are spread throughout Marshalltown.

“They are all over, not just in one little area,” she said. “I am so grateful the whole community has come together to show this is something they want.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.