MADAWASKA, Maine – When the St. John Valley Chamber of Commerce announced last weekend that it would have to cancel its annual yard sale due to a staff shortage, the town and the local Forever Young Club came together to save the regional event.
The sale is slated May 29 to May 31.
The chamber has been without an executive director since December of last year. The shortage has led to difficulties for the chamber in organizing local events. For the Top O’ Maine Trade Show, the largest trade show north of Bangor, members of the chamber’s board had to pull together and work late nights and weekends to ensure that the event would continue this year.
Upon hearing this news, Robert and Della Schlicher, who both serve on the board of local volunteer community group Forever Young Club, spoke to fellow board members and town officials about helping to organize the yard sale.
Robert Schlicher said he was motivated to get involved because the yard sale draws several people to the region, which benefits the community economically. He said the club also got involved because they felt it would be easier to keep the yard sale going than to start it back up again after a hiatus.
“Furthermore, the event serves as a major fundraiser for the Senior Center, which is operated by the Forever Young Club, a group of dedicated volunteers,” he said. “The Senior Center provides affordable hot meals to community members aged 50 and above.”
Madawaska Economic and Community Development Director Kristen Henry spoke with Schlicher and chamber president Sam Corey about the town handling the marketing and advertising component of the event.
“From there, we spoke internally about what that looked like, and it morphed into the online listing and route-planning app we created as a visitor and tourism tool for the community,” Henry said.
The website allows interested residents to sign up and list their sale online. It will also help residents see where each sale is located and what is being offered at each location. This is a new addition to the event that will help visitors search by item category and generate customized routes based on what they’re looking for.
The event includes Madawaska and surrounding communities of Cyr Plantation, Frenchville, Grand Isle, Sinclair, St. Agatha, St. David, and Van Buren.
The town will handle online registrations and the Forever Young Club will handle paper applications and then hand them off to Henry to be used in the online listing.
“This is really about the community coming together to support something people genuinely enjoy,” Henry said. “The town and the Forever Young Club saw an opportunity to help keep the event moving forward while also modernizing it in a way that creates a better experience for both shoppers and participants.”
