BRUNSWICK

Scattered throughout the 22,000 square feet of Mid Coast Hospital Auxiliary’s “Grand and Glorious” Yard Sale space are multitudes of interesting and exciting goods ready to be found when the sale opens Friday, May 16, with the annual Preview Party in the new location — the old Borders Book Store in Merrymeeting/Shaw’s Plaza on Bath road.

Perhaps the search is on for a farmhouse table, or large handmade copper planters, casseroles or pitchers, a quilt shop within the craft department, paintings by Maine artists, a hot/cold water dispenser, an early oak Morris chair, patio sets, silver pieces, a tent all set up and ready to go. Volunteers have creatively arranged these goods to entice even the most reluctant buyers.

“I don’t need anything” is a comment often heard, said Margy Burroughs, yard sale chairwoman, “but who can resist looking around to find something you didn’t know you needed. Then, we have shoppers looking to furnish the first apartment, a college dorm room, a seasonal camp up north, or to spruce up their home.”

The annual yard sale kicks off with Friday’s Preview Party from 6 to 8:30 pm, for which tickets are now on sale. The public sale on Saturday, May 17, is 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, May 18, 9 a.m. to noon.

The new location also has acres of free parking. Advance preview party tickets at $20 per person are on sale until 5 p.m. May 14 at Gulf of Maine Books, MCH Gift Shop, yard sale dropoff, and Now You’re Cooking in Bath. Tickets at the door are $25 per person. The ticket includes early purchasing, beverages and hors d’oeuvres.

What’s so special about this sale besides the bargains? The sale is all about community support for the hospital by patients, families, friends, neighbors and businesses, who donate “good goods” which are turned into cash for health career scholarships and needed hospital equipment. The current auxiliary pledge of $120,000 supports the technology upgrade for the Maternity Unit infant security system, touching every baby born there and generations of his or her family.

“These goods have been donated by truckloads and by boxfulls, all with good intentions,” said Burroughs.

The location of departments, or “boutiques” as volunteers call them, are slightly different from the previous sales. When entering the front door, furniture is in the middle. On the right are kitchen, linens, crafts and electronics. On the left are house and garden, children, holiday and miscellaneous, and accessories. At the far end of the store are sports and treasures.

With great ingenuity and hard work, the yard sale “management” team, headed by John Laz, and co-workers Bill Chase and Lionel Bourque, has transformed the warehouse into very respectable sales areas. Display space includes more than 100 tables made, borrowed or owned, and 1,000 feet of shelf space, removed from a previous location, and greatly appreciated by more than 100 volunteers, who want to offer the best sales pitch to buyers.

The hors d’oeuvres for the preview party are being donated by area restaurants and volunteers, including Great Impasta, Henry and Marty’s, Brunswick Inn, Dolphin Marina, Brunswick Hotel and Tavern, Wild Oaks Bakery, Sunnybrook Village, Richard’s, 56 Elm Street Assisted Living, Kennebec Tavern, Mae’s Café and Bakery and The Cabin.

A new feature of Saturday is the cookie sale of fourinch homemade cookies at $1 each made by Mid Coast volunteers and staff.

For more informtion about the sale, call Mid Coast Volunteer Services at 373-6015 or email [email protected]. The easiest route to the yard sale site is the Cook’s Corner exit off Route 1, turning right onto Bath Road, and turning right at the third light.

THE LAST TIME to donate to the “Grand and Glorious” Yard Sale is from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 10, at the old Border’s Book Store, located in the Merrymeeting/Shaw’s Plaza on Bath Road in Brunswick. Volunteers will be on hand to help unload.

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