A sign promoting Cincinnatus Yard Sale Day is seen in front of Heritage Hall in Cincinnatus. (Peter Blanchard/Cortland Voice)
CINCINNATUS, N.Y. — The town of Cincinnatus held its annual Town-Wide Yard Sale Saturday, filling the streets with people and parked cars along both sides of town streets.
The first town-wide yard sale was organized seven years ago by Sherrie Massmann, a long-time Cincinnatus resident and a former Deputy City Clerk for the City of Cortland.
"It is a community-wide project that benefits local homeowners and also a lot of nonprofit groups," said Massmann. "It is all over town."
Toni Warner, who is this year's organizer, made a color-coded map highlighting more than fifty sales sites in the area. Maps to navigate the sales were being offered at the Cincinnatus Home Center, the farmer’s market, and the town volunteer fire department.
Related: Photo Gallery | Cincinnatus Town-Wide Yard Sale
Warner has taken over the primary organizing responsibilities, overseeing the event for the past two years.
"I would say that there are over 75 homeowners putting stuff out today," said Warner. "This year we had about 25 to 30 people sign up.
Each business or homeowner that wishes to take part in the sale must donate $4 to cover the cost of advertising and marketing materials, Warner said.
Businesses and homeowners across town sold a variety of items, including clothing, furniture, art, board games, video games and antiques.
"After the first two years, I figured that the average sale was bringing in about $400 per household," said Massmann. "All of the local businesses were noticing a huge increase in traffic. So I estimated approximately $30,000 is consumed by the community for having this sale in one day."
People not only enjoyed the low yard sale prices on this day, as they were also able to enjoy food all over the place.
The Cincinnatus Fire Department hosted a made-to-order breakfast from 7-11 a.m., and the American Legion held a chicken barbecue lunch in the Cindy True Value parking lot.
Both Warner and Massmann also had a booth this year, selling hot dogs, water and sodas at Town Hall.
"We are doing this booth to benefit the Cincinnatus Fall Harvest festival, which was formerly the CornFest, happening in September," said Warner. "It has been gone for two years, but we are bringing it back."
