(Dubois, WY) – The Third Annual Dubois Area Rummage Sale is scheduled to take place this Saturday and Sunday, featuring sales by almost 40 local families at more than 30 locations – with more likely “popping up” at the last minute, organizer Amanda Ysen said.
Ysen started the event in 2022, modeling it after the popular Bargains are Great on Highway 38 community rummage sale in northern Minnesota, where she used to live.
She thought the concept might work well in Dubois, where it can be difficult to find a market for used household items.
“You post it (online), and you never can get rid of it,” Ysen explained. “People had garage sales and (they’d) be lucky to get two or three people to stop by.”
Based on that history, Ysen said she wasn’t sure whether out-of-town shoppers would travel to Dubois to attend the first community rummage sale in 2022.
“At first it was like, ‘Well, we’ll see if it really happens – is everybody really going to drive up to Dubois to buy our stuff?’” she recalled.
The answer to that question turned out to be “yes.”
“We had so many people (shopping),” Ysen said. “We hardly had anything left.”
About 30 local families had registered for that inaugural rummage sale, and Ysen said many of them reported earning “a couple thousand dollars” from the event – which only lasted one day.
“That’s how it started,” she said. “(So) we did it again last year.”
In 2023, she said more than 50 local families signed up to host one-day rummage sales at 35 locations around town, drawing “hundreds” of shoppers from Riverton, Lander, Thermopolis, Casper, Cheyenne, and even surrounding states.
“Our town loves it,” Ysen said. “It’s like a little family reunion.”
Plus, she added, “there were tourists who were coming through town who decided to stay in Dubois and do the rummage sale instead of heading out,” and “we had people from other countries who happened to be in Dubois or came here for this.”
This year, organizers decided to add a second day to the event, which also features sales by local businesses, Ysen noted.
The map that shoppers will use to locate individual rummage sales in town will also include a list of local restaurants that will be open during the event, she said.
The map is scheduled to be published this week – with the cost for the advertisment paid for using the new $5 vendor registration fee that was assessed this year to help cover some of the expenses that were previously funded through a Tourism Asset Development grant.
Ysen said the rummage sale did not qualify for the TAD grant this year, so she is working on a new plan to secure advertising funding for 2025.
For more information about the rummage sale visit their Facebook group, email duboisarearummagesale@gmail.com or contact Ysen at (307) 450-7727.
