The Willis Street New England Bazaar
~ I took a number of photos of the day, which I hope to get posted soon…
May 20th, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff
On Saturday, May 20th, 2006, the usually quiet Willis Street in Westminster looked like a New England bazaar as folks packed the street in search of bargains and treasures at the first annual Willis Street Tag Sale.
Willis Street is the neighborhood in Westminster adjacent to City Hall.
What is now known as Westminster City Hall was a large brick mansion, with wide porches on three sides, built by Colonel John K. Longwell in 1842.
The land on which the home was built, and referred to as "Emerald Hill" was Colonel Longwell's home. It was purchased from trustees of the Estate of David Fisher, and was a part of the entire tract, which now comprises West Street, Willis Street, Center Street, North Street, Longwell Avenue and extended to the Railroad Tracks.
When the home was completed, Colonel Longwell called it his "Mansion House," and it was considered one of the finest in the county. A plat of this area surveyed in 1907, referred to it as "Longwell's Addition to Westminster." Subsequently, with changes in ownership, the property became known as "Longwell Place."
Following the death of Colonel Longwell in 1896, the family continued to occupy the mansion until the death of his daughter, Sallie. Col. Longwell’s wife, Mrs. Sarah Longwell had preceded her daughter’s death.
At this time, in 1907, a portion of the property was developed into what we now know as Willis Street, west of Center Street. Several of the homes on Willis were built by the Shriver family.
With the generous cooperation of the Westminster Police Department and the Westminster Street Department, the street was closed from 8 AM through 1 PM to vehicular traffic for a New England style yard sale.
According to one of the Willis Street organizers, Mrs. Kirsten Vandervalk; “in New England, they don’t have “yard sales,” they have “tag sales.”
Apparently, a tag sale is an upscale yard sale.
Whatever one would like to refer to the event, by all reports the day was a huge success.
Various neighbors had different accounts as to why the day was such a great success except everyone said they enjoyed getting out on a pretty spring day and getting to see friends and neighbors after a long winter.
Also mentioned was getting the house cleaned out and most of all, everyone enjoyed raising money for a local community charity.
It was agreed by all the neighbors that they would donate a percentage of the proceeds to Shepherd’s Staff - A Christian Outreach and Support Center Serving the Needy in Carroll County. In the end, almost everyone donated extra beyond the percentage and even some visitors donated money specifically for Shepard’s Staff. Over $400.00 was raised.
Ms. Vandervalk worked in concert with a number of neighbors to organize the tag sale. Neighbors such as Sue Thomas, Nicky Smelser, Chris Fisher, Doris Wisner, Peggy Bair, Madeleine Miller, Joyce Myers, Jean Pacardi and Bonnie Bosley all served on “The Planning Committee.”
Ms Vandervalk said that she was “surprised to have as many visitors ask if this is going to be an annual event.”
Her response was “if there is a lot of interest and we can find a date, I have all the notes, work materials and hopefully it would be easy to do it again.”
The neighborhood sale was a great deal of work. But no one seemed to be complaining. “Everyone has a good time… It was well worth the effort,” said Ms. Vandervalk. “Neighborhoods are full of special people…”
Sue Thomas, one of the organizers of the event, “enjoyed the day.”
“It’s a great neighborhood” and the tag sale was a “nice neighborhood thing to do.” Mrs. Thomas gave most of her proceeds for the day to Shepherd’s Staff.
The Willis Street neighborhood is well known for an annual block party, lining the street with Christmas luminaries and Christmas caroling.
It was “no problem” working with the city to get approval for closing down the street for the day. Westminster Police Officers Tony Ott and Captain Randy Barnes handled most of the coordination.
The police and street department “were very customer service oriented, cooperative and helpful,” praised Ms. Vandervalk.
The day of the event, Lt. Ott showed up at 7 AM to get preparations underway. He promptly offered $1.50 for my farm truck that was used for ferrying tables and supplies for the event.
From antiques to boutiques were sold at the sale. Good used furniture, fine used clothing, stained glass, purses, sporting and gardening equipment, pots and pans and a “Blue’s Clues Thinking Chair.” (Hint: “Blue’s Clues for Parents” is a show on the “Nickelodeon Jr.” television network.)
Apparently folks were “fighting over” the thinking chair, according to Ms. Madeleine Miller, who was also quite happy that she was able to sell a “Jason” hockey costume mask.
At which point, Ms. Vandervalk remarked that “what is one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”
Jeff Smelser, who, according to rumor, gave up playing golf “for the first time in 43 years,” so that he could attend the sale, was happy that he sold a pair of “vintage 1962 ‘212’ Head racing snow skis.”
He claimed that he was his wife’s “runner,” dutifully responding to ‘Do this,” and “Do that.”
Smart man.
In between assigned tasks, he was happy to get some yard maintenance accomplished during the sale.
Nicky Smelser “sold designer clothing and jewelry.” She was happy to spend time with so many visitors and neighbors and even happened across some of her “1965 classmates from Hampstead Middle School,” who were in the neighborhood yardsale-ing, err, tag sale-ing.
Madeleine Miller was amazed that bargain hunters arrived at 7 a.m. Some came all the way from Southern Maryland. She remarked that she “did not make a lot of money but got the house cleaned out and had a great time meeting a lot of neat people.” One the prizes she sold was a “St. Tropez print.”
Neighbors noted that Ms. Miller even “gift wrapped” many of her sales and even offered “packing service.”
Mrs. Vandervalk sold some pieces of furniture that had been in the family for several generations.
These folks were serious about having a yard sale – err, tag sale.
Ms. Miller said the event “brought back nostalgic memories.” She was "happy to see items go to a good home.”
It was beautiful day and everyone was so nice, several neighbors exclaimed.
It is events and neighborhoods like Willis Street that make Westminster a wonderful place to raise a family. In the end, everyone seems to be the winner. Col. Longwell would have been proud.
Hat’s off to Willis Street.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
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