Monthly Archives: April 2011

Announcing the First-Ever Greater Charles Village Junk Hunt!

Village Parents is proud to present the first annual Greater Charles Village “Junk Hunt”  on May 7, 2011.

If you have been spring cleaning and have items you want to sell, the Junk Hunt is the perfect opportunity to unload them! It’s easy — you can operate your own sidewalk sale as you normally would, but you’ll benefit from us doing the advertising, plus the boost in foot traffic that will come with a coordinated, neighborhood-wide event. We’re even including a scavenger hunt to encourage buyers to visit everyone!

Please register to join us!

Saturday, May 7 from 8:30am-12:00pm (must register by Thursday, May 5 at 10pm).

Participation Fee:  $15.  Proceeds will go to Village Parents social activities and to support the Americorp VISTA position at Margaret Brent School next school year.  A portion of this fee will be tax deductible.

Register: http://junkhunt.eventbrite.com/

FAQs

We’ve anticipated your questions. We’ll try to answer them here.

What is the 1st ever Greater Charles Village Junk Hunt?

It’s a neighborhood-wide sidewalk sale plus optional Scavenger Hunt.  The scavenger hunt is a coordinated effort across Greater Charles Village that helps attract people to the event and ensures that people will visit your booth (even if it is off the beaten path).

What do I have to do to sell items in the sale?

  1. Sign up http://junkhunt.eventbrite.com/ and pay a $15 registration fee per address with a credit card.  Or fill out the form below and pay your registration fee with cash or check. A portion of your $15 will be tax deductible.  Please indicate on the form whether you will participate in the Scavenger Hunt and post-sale Charity Pick-Up (see details following).
  2. On the day of the sale, set your items out for sale in front of your house/apartment.  You operate your sale like you normally would.   If you would like to participate in the Scavenger Hunt, please choose one item that you will not sell to be labeled for the Scavenger Hunt. The more funny or unusual the item, the better.   Clearly mark it “not for sale” and give item a name.  We will provide you with maps to hand out to your customers to cross-promote sales and encourage participation in the Scavenger Hunt.
  3. Join us at Margaret Brent Playground at 12:30 for the Scavenger Hunt 50/50 prize drawing.  If you would like to donate your “do not sell” item to the prize drawing, bring that as well.

How will the Scavenger Hunt work?

Shoppers will be able to purchase Scavenger Hunt cards for $2 at various points throughout the neighborhood. These cards will list the addresses of sellers who are participating and a space to write down the name of the Scavenger item. At the conclusion of the sale, participants who successfully identified every item can enter their card into the drawing for the grand prize – guaranteed $50 cash plus 50% of whatever is made on the sales of scavenger hunt cards.

Why should I participate in this sale instead of having my own sale?

Village Parents is providing all of the coordination to attract a larger buying audience.  The more sellers that participate, the more buyers will be attracted.

Village Parents will take care of all the advertising (Sun, City Paper, Craigslist)

Village Parents will make maps that will be distributed to each participant to cross-promote our sidewalk sale

The scavenger hunt will help bring people to your sale (particularly if you are off the beaten path).

The more people that participate, the more bargain hunters we attract, the more stuff we sell.

We’ll arrange for a charity (most likely Disabled American Veterans) to pick up your unsold/unwanted items so you don’t have to worry about arranging that yourself.  You may opt out of charity pickup if you’d like.

It’s a win-win!  You are donating to an organization that is working to make Greater Charles Village a more family-friendly neighborhood AND you benefit from the marketing boost that comes with a HUGE neighborhood-wide sale!

How is Village Parents going to use the $15 participation fee?

The participation fee will first cover the cost of advertising in the Sun and printing signs for the event.  The remainder of the fee and the scavenger hunt proceeds will be used to support Village Parents social events and to help fund the Americorp VISTA position at Margaret Brent School for the 2011-2012 school year.

This sounds great.  Where do I sign up?

Go to http://junkhunt.eventbrite.com/ to complete the registration form and provide credit card payment by Thursday May 5th so we have time to create maps and scavenger hunt cards.

Don’t trust the internet or credit cards?  Print out this form and mail or walk it over to:  Steph Cosgrove, 2641 Guilford Ave #2, Baltimore, MD  21218.  Make checks payable to Village Parents/GHCC.

Hold on a minute.  I’ve never heard of Village Parents.  Who are you people?

Village Parents is a group of parents in the Greater Charles Village area are who are dedicated to making our neighborhood more family-friendly.  We want to see the neighborhood have great activities for kids, great open spaces, and great schools.  Check out our website at www.charlesvillageparents.org.  You can also follow us on Facebook – Village Parents page or Twitter @CVPARENTS.

Village Parents is sponsored by the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. A portion of your $15 registration fee will be tax deductible.