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Hillsborough garage sale aids Orange County Historical Museum

The brightly-colored price stickers and random housewares that lined the parking lot of a Hillsborough car dealership were just as varied as the personalities around them.

For the eighth consecutive year, the Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County hosted a garage sale Saturday to benefit the Orange County Historical Museum.

The museum relies heavily on fundraising to help cover an annual operating budget of roughly $70,000, of which the county only covers $4,000, said Linda Schmitt, a member of the foundation’s board of directors.

Organizers hoped to raise $1,400 for the museum’s general operating costs.

Greeted with shouts of, “We’re ready to wheel and deal!” and, “Put your hand on it, it’s sold!” from organizers, customers navigated through new and old items —exercise bicycles, rocking chairs, lamps — in a largely vacated car dealership lot on South Churton Street.

“There are some people who are antique stealers who have been here, and then there are people who just want everyday, usable stuff,” said Mary Ann Peter, chairwoman of the foundation’s board of directors.

After the June announcement of the Chapel Hill Museum’s closing, the Orange County Historical Museum is the last institution specifically designated to record the history and artifacts of the county.

Peter said a similar fate for the Orange County museum would be devastating.

“It would be the loss of telling the historical journey of Orange County, which started in the mid-1700’s,” Peter said. “We would lose the artifacts, we would lose the narrative, we would lose the heart of the story of Orange County.”

Many shoppers, including Hillsborough resident and self-proclaimed “garage sale nut” Hattie Clark, were more concerned with the preservation of the museum than the items on sale.

“It’s very important to keep this museum alive, especially for my grandchildren and even my children,” Clark said. “They don’t know much about the historic part of Hillsborough and the things that came through here.”

Clark walked away from the sale with baskets for her church and a tablecloth for a baby shower.

Other customers with no affiliation to the area came strictly for the deals.

“I just stopped by. I’m up early for the football game today,” said David Norris, a resident of Pickens, S.C., near Clemson University. “I’m just getting in a few yard sales this morning to have something to do.”

Although the foundation did not have numbers on total earnings by Monday, Schmitt estimated more than 200 customers stopped by the sale, including a handful whom organizers found waiting when they came to set up at 7:15 a.m.

The sale was not listed to start until 8 a.m.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.

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