Port Stanley will try – again – to put COVID-19 disruptions behind it on Saturday.
The Port Stanley Business Improvement Area (BIA) is urging local retailers to offer festive sidewalk sales to contribute to otherwise modest local Labour Day celebrations.
The sidewalk sales are, in turn, intended to encourage residents to consider a village-wide yard sale, offering tourists and visitors an interesting shopping experience to complement activities on Main and Little beach.
A village-wide yard sale tradition was emerging in recent years on the Victoria Day long weekend in May, however, due to COVID-19 disruptions, the last two were cancelled.
“That is why we thought Labour Day might be a great time to do it, to make up for what we lost out on,” said Dustin Allen, proprietor at Ports Pets, and Chairman of the Port Stanley BIA. “It is not a BIA organized or sponsored event. We are just promoting it.
“It is rather an organic, grassroots kind of thing with no spokesperson, champion, or organization behind it,” added Allen. “Going forward, we see it as an annual ‘bookend’ event, with one yard sale on the Victoria Day weekend in May and one on the Labour Day weekend in September.
“Many people enjoy the yard sales,” said Allen. “You can always see numerous cars and people stopping, checking it out and hoping for that ‘find’.”