When does T 'n'T end?

Cramahe Now reader, Roseanne Quinn has been a vendor at Trash 'n' Treasures for a number of years. This year she ran into a problem and wonders what others in the community think.

We have posted her letter to the blog below, and under it, comments made by Cramahe Township Community Development Officer, Rebecca Goddard-Sarria, and Mayor Marc Coombs at Cramahe Council on August 11.

Be sure to check back regularly to read the responses. We will post your comments separately below the story - the first one has already arrived!

Ms. Quinn writes:

At 2 p.m. on the dot Saturday, Rebecca Goddard-Sarria walked around Victoria Square
informing all of us who had rented tables that it was time to pack up and get out.

"Why?" I asked.

She responded that she needed the tables back.

I asked when Trash and Treasures had started being closed down at 2 p.m.

She replied "As of this year."

Again I asked why, since it always ran until 4 p.m.

She informed me that she had been doing it for four years and she had decided to close it at 2 p.m. this year.

I informed her that I had been "doing it" since 1997 and it was always on until 4 p.m.

She said that if I didn't like it, I shouldn't rent tables from her next time.

I told her she had turned the event into a bureaucracy (which of course would happen when you hand over a community-based event to a bureaucrat). So, of course, as soon as those of us who had rented tables packed up and left, the other vendors who had their own tables had no customers, nor did all the other people in Colborne who had set up in front of their houses.

I don't understand why she would decide to close a public-centred event or why she would be given the authority to do it. Trash and Treasures started as a day for all of Cramahe and Colborne to hold yard sales in order to become a large attraction - which it used to be.

It also used to be for charitable organizations and ordinary citizens to raise
money in a central location or be on a map which was handed out to visitors. It seems a lot of the vendors in Victoria Square are now professional business people who have retail-type set-ups.

One year I set up to raise money for the Colborne Heritage site. Right beside me a woman arrived with a trailer full of stock from the William Ashley store in Toronto where she worked . She sold all day- I barely made $200 for the Heritage Room.

Getting back to the point - the event has been turned into a tightly organized event that should have been left alone. In fact, if I had packed up to leave at 2 p.m. I would have missed the $100 sale I had at 2:30.

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

Roseanne Quinn

Ms Goddard-Sarria was asked during press question period on August 11 for her response to the concern about an early closing time.

She stated that she had had one vendor concerned at 2:20 p.m. on Saturday. Ms. Goddard-Sarria had advertised the event to run from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is the second year she has set those times.

She admitted it had been 4 p.m. previously but it now started earlier and ended earlier. She said the person who complained had been told before of the 2 p.m. end time.

Mayor Marc Coombs agreed with Ms. Goddard-Sarria regarding the earlier end time. He said it is a staff issue with Community Services Director Dan O'Brien and cost of staffing.

Ms. Goddard-Sarria added that it must have been a good year and people who wanted to stay later could bring their own tables.



What do you think?

Was this year's Trash 'n' Treasures a success?

Were the crowds big and spending?

Should the township collect its tables at 2 p.m.?

Write to us at
lowen@xplornet.com and tell us what you think. If you wish, we can post your comments anonymously but we require that you provide us with your name.