PROCTORVILLE — It’s the time when all yard sale enthusiasts must surely think they have died and gone to flea market heaven.

It’s the annual village-wide rummage sale in Proctorville. For the past 15 years, the first Saturday of May means everyone can clean out their attics and garages and put the unwanted items on some card tables and wait for the buyers to come. There will be yard sales from one end of the village to another.

“Everyone in town gets involved. They get excited. There are rummage sales all over the place,” Pam Legg, administrative assistant for the village, said.

Originally, the village-wide event came about as a way to encourage residents to clean up around their houses.

“We get them to clean up around the home and outside their house and make a little money,” Legg said.

Then on Monday the village brings in a dumpster so anything that doesn’t sell can get tossed, if the owner wishes.

Village residents Debbie Dunfee and her husband Rick usually join in the event, often making their special hot dogs to sell to the buyers.

“There are lots of children’s clothes, baby clothes, furniture, bicycles, all kinds of stuff. You never know what you will run into,” Dunfee said. “People will walk around with a can of pop and get themselves a hot dog.”

Usually, the sales start early by at least 7 in the morning and will go until mid-afternoon.

“It is just a good time to get out and fellowship with your neighbors,” Legg said.