The Michigan Daily-Friday, February 12, 1988- Page 5

Ilona Stierle grabs a pair of shorts from a table on the "soft goods" floor of the 1988 Ann Arbor Kiwanis Sale - where used clothing, hardware, appliances, furniture, and toys were often sold for under a dollar.

Where

25 cents

buys a

treasure .

. 0

It was a bargain shopper's dream
come true. Three floors of donated
goods priced to sell - often for
under a dollar.
The Kiwanis Sale is a bi-annual
event run by Kiwanis Club members
and other volunteers in order to raise
money for charity. But the shoppers
I found seemed more concerned with
their personal needs as they fought
through the crowds frantically seek-
ing out the best bargains of the year.
The sale offered everything I
could possibly imagine. What I
considered junk someone might eas-
ily have called a treasure. As I was
walking upstairs I ran into a woman
with a huge cardboard box in her
arms. She pulled out a blender and
said proudly, "Two dollars... can you
believe it? What a day. What a day!"
A sign in the stairway stated,
"Softgoods This Way." Not quite
sure what softgoods were, I followed
the arrows upstairs. There I found
tables covered with clothing: shirts
for $1, scarves for 50 cents, "sox"
for only a dime a pair.
But not all the shoppers were
purchasing for themselves. Among
the boxes of toddler clothes, I found
13-year old Teresa Ferenczy looking
for clothes for her cat. At the scarf
table I found Ann Arbor resident
Barbara Woods with seven scarfs
around her neck. She was still
searching for more when I continued
on. Even at 50 cents apiece they
couldn't all be for herself.
I waded through the crowds -
past tables of kitchen utensils, toys,
half-empty paint cans, and glassware
- to the small, yet visible camera
table hoping to find a treasure of my
own. I found, instead, three boxes of
those Kodak Instamatic cameras we
used to have when we were in
kindergarten. They were only priced
a dollar, but they just didn't seem
worth purchasing. Discouraged,
tired, and out of film, I headed for
the door.
I still haven't found my treasure.
Maybe next year will be more suc-

Bargain hunters of all ages went to the Kiwanis Building at Washington and 1st Street last weekend to frantically rum-
mage through boxes, booths, and tables of donated goods.

"iPKanis Sale volunteer, proudly straightens her booth of


titi \ E