Citywide yard sale, activities planned

This weekend, Ironton will have a citywide yard sale and other activities as part of its first ever Second Saturday.

The goal is to show people from around the region what businesses the city has while they browse for good deals along Third Street and at the farmers market.

“The goal is to show off what Ironton has to offer,” said Casey Compston, a trustee with the Ironton Business Community. The event runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

For the residents of Ironton, they can set up tables in the downtown area to sell their wares without having to pay a fee.

“The city has been awesome with this, with waiving the yard sales fees for this weekend,” Compston said. “And the city also waived the ordinance about putting things on the sidewalk.”

Compston said the original plan was to open up the lot next to the Ironton Farmers Market for the yard sale.

“We wanted to push to make sure the yard sale was down Third Street so people could, while they are looking for all the treasures you find at a yard sale, see what our businesses have to offer,” he said.

Compston said numerous groups, are putting on Second Saturday, including the Ironton Business Community, Ironton aLive, Ironton In Bloom, and the City of Ironton.

“Everybody has been involved to try and bring this together to try and make sure everyone knows that Ironton is open for business and try to bring people to downtown,” he said, adding that part of it was to get all the businesses to be open at the same time. “Everybody has agreed to have their businesses open at the same hours. They are going to have their sidewalk sales to promote their individual businesses and have incentives to bring people in and to show everybody there is a lot going on down here.”

The farmers market will open on Saturday and besides the offering of produce, flowers and home made goods, the parking lot and on Bobby Bare Boulevard will be open for yard sales.

Sam Heighton, executive director of Ironton aLive, said people who want to set up in the lot need to set up between 7-8:30 a.m.

If there is enough demand for space at Market Square, they will set sellers up on the sidewalk on Vernon toward Third Street and possibly some sellers on Third Street.

People will need to sign an agreement requiring them to remain with their items and that they will remove all unsold items by 4 p.m. when the event ends.

Ironton In Bloom will sell plants at the Splash Park parking lot as part of its annual fundraiser. And they will be giving out chips and salsa donated by Toro Loco.

And for the kids, there will be activities at the Rotary Fountain on Center Street.
Consigned Books will have a sidewalk book signing with Kathy Cannon-Weichman, author of “Not On Fifth Street,” from 1-4 p.m.

The book focuses on the 1937 flood that devastated communities along the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River.

She based the book loosely on the story of her father, who grew up in Ironton, and tells the story, set in Lawrence County, through her own original characters.