VERO BEACH — Some woke up at 5 a.m. on Saturday – a day they would normally sleep late – and prepared for a long, sweaty day ahead of them. But it wouldn’t be a day in the gym – or even in the pool. Instead, it would be in the parking lot at Leisure Square in Vero Beach.
Members of the Vero Beach High School Swim Team gathered in the early morning hours to line up countless items of clothing, books, and knickknacks, getting them ready for a crush of shoppers.
They didn’t wait long. And in a matter of a few sun-soaked hours on the blacktop, the team had finished its annual rummage sale – the kickoff fundraiser for the swim season.
“It’s really nice to see everyone come,” said Swim Captain Evan MacKay.
He and others stood along 16th Street at the parking lot’s entrance, waving signs to entice drivers to stop by on a whim.
One shopper, Marc Seagrave, came to support a team his daughter – now a club team swimmer for University of Florida – once belonged to.
Seagrave said he supports the team building that such sports as swimming provides.
“Anything that’s less individualistic,” he said.
Seagrave left the sale carrying a plastic grocery bag filled with several paperback books – a steal at just $5 a bag.
Near the end of the hours-long sale, shoppers were encouraged to fill such bags with anything they could fit and take it home for $5.
Among the items that wouldn’t fit in a shopping bag were a refrigerator, a weight bench, an icemaker, a crib, an organ, and a carpet.
The sale literally had everything – and a kitchen sink.
“We’re thankful Leisure Square lets us use their parking lot,” said Tammy Richardson, head of the booster club and a former team mom who, technically, doesn’t have a child on the team this year, but did last year and expects to again in a couple years.
Richardson said the fundraiser usually generates between $600 and $800 and is used to offset the cost of the team’s annual banquet, awards, snacks and drinks at swim meets, and gifts for the swimmers at the end of the season.
Already, the team has garnered four wins – both the boys and the girls teams beat St. Ed’s teams, as well as John Carroll’s teams.
“We have a lot of new swimmers,” Richardson said. “They stepped up.”
The items that went unsold over the weekend will be up for sale again come February when the Vero Beach Recreation Department hosts its own rummage sale. The sale serves as the department’s own fundraiser.
