At 6 a.m. July 19, Ontelaunee Park was open to vendors. At 8 a.m. shoppers started to arrive at the park.

At 9 a.m., there barely was a space to be had in the three parking lots.

By 2 p.m., just as it began to rain in earnest, The New Tripoli Fire Company community yard sale was one for the books.

“We sold about 116 spots,” said Amanda Seibert a member of the fire company’s board of governors, responsible for fundraising. We do it every summer.”

Vendors could select a spot in one of the pavilions for $15, or on the grass for $10.

Two food trucks were on hand to provide eats for anyone that wanted them “Buns on the Go was scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” Seibert said. “and Nesting Box recommended Let’s Go Coffee from Emmaus. They make a great shoofly pie coffee.”

Bargain hunters had plenty to choose from.

“You never know what you will find,” said Hector, who drove from Allentown. “You go to a sale and it’s a big surprise.”

“This is my second trip to my car,” said Katy Grim jostling a child’s slide. “I bought an excavator truck for my grandson, brand-new, for only seven bucks and I got him a pair of boots with the original tags for four. Now, I’ve got to find something for my granddaughter.”

Vendors came from far and near.

“I came with my girls, my cousins,” said Christine Snyder, a yard sale veteran. “We go out about once a month to sales like Wheels of Time and Paws Over the Canal and some inside shows.”

Sisters Trinity and Arianna Fratrik were selling their wares on side-by-side tables.

“LOL dolls are mainly what is selling,” said Trinity Fratrik, who will be attending high school at Northwestern Lehigh in the fall.

“If you’re interested in the clothes, they’re just a buck each,” added her college bound sister.

The girls were having fun at the sale.

“I wanted to get rid of some of the clutter,” said Trinity Fratrik, smiling. “I haven’t used some things in a while.”

Carol Dries said she was selling “a little bit of everything including baskets, crafts and plants,” in one of the pavilions.

“The day lilies had to be divided, and the maple and ferns are just growing wild,” she said, adding “the iris multiplied so I had to divide them too.” The plants ended up in pots at her table.

Michael Shimko had only a few items at his table because he was more interested in representing the Fogelsville Area Senior Citizen Club.

“The main reason I’m here is to make the club more visible,” he said. “We’re a club that gets together at the Fogelsville Fire Company and we’re always looking for new members.”

The club enjoys a number of activities from bingo to the Pines Dinner Theater.

“We have a yard sale a couple of times a year to raise a little money. Whatever is left over gets donated,” Shimko said.

With the community sale over, Siebert is looking to the future.

“Next year I want to add a bazaar featuring crafts at the fire hall, maybe in October,” she said.

“The fire company is like a family to me,” she continued. “I love what they do. I want to take the pressure off the fire company.”