Royal Rummage Sale returns to St. Mary

On March 3, 2017, as parishioners began arriving for 9 a.m. Mass at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Catholic Church, others began lining up in the parking lot.

Those in the parking lot formed a line to be the first to have a peek at the church’s annual Royal Rummage Sale.

“People were here with their chairs and had little coolers with them, and they had some snacks to eat,” rummage sale co-chairwoman Ingrid Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski expects it to happen again this year.

On Friday, March 2, the women’s guild will open the doors for the early bird sale. From noon to 4 p.m., and for $5, customers will get “dibs,” as Wisniewski says, on everything the sale has to offer. The sale continues Saturday, March 3, with free admission from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church, 4280 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

The guild starts prepping for the sale in late July when they start accepting donations. Ranging from jewelry and clothing, to artwork and furniture, the guild accepts donations from parishioners, residents or anyone who has items they wish to be donated.

“These donations are sorted and stored all year long, and then two weeks before we have our sale, we pull them out, and we display them to their advantage all over the place, and in some cases, we have to pile them really high because we have a lot of stuff,” Wisniewski said.

As in years past, the guild is sticking with similar departments — jewelry, clothes, furniture, artwork and others.

“We’ve been careful in what we selected in what we put on the floor,” Wisniewski said. “We have some really great merchandise, and it is indeed beautiful and bountiful.”

Proceeds from the sale go to various local charities. Last year,  proceeds went to local Catholic schools, SOLVE Maternity Homes and Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center, among others.