The “Great South Side Sale,” the massive annual thrifting event in South Side Bethlehem now in its 30th year, is on for this coming weekend.
The sale is taking place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Broughal Middle School fields at 114 W. Morton Street. The sale is cash only.
Kim Carrell-Smith, a now-retired Lehigh University professor, founded the sale three decades ago because she noticed how many perfectly good items would get discarded during student move-out season — sometimes dumped on the streets, cluttering up neighborhoods.
The sale has now grown into an event that generates nearly $30,000 in revenue every year and fills the equivalent of six, 24-foot-long trucks with donations.
Volunteers — around 170 people help sort the items in the weeks leading up to the sale, and 80 run the sale itself — make an effort to sort through the useful items from the junk, Hernandez said. All types of donations are accepted, from appliances to clothing to furniture, although all items that are put up for sale must be in good condition.
Organizers set prices “well-below” thrift store prices, with the average item costing just $1, according to a Lehigh University news release.
The sale raises more than $30,000 a year, with proceeds going toward programs that benefit children on the South Side, according to Carrell-Smith.