Town Wide Tag: Every Sale on the Google Map

Tonight I paced, waiting until 7:29 to leave the house to attend the Deerfield Selectboard meeting at town hall. I was on the agenda but first the distinguished state senator Stan and state rep Steve who were there to present an award to a 24-year volunteer, Richard Stellman.

I chatted up the Gazette reporter who I had met in the afternoon in my office, trying to fill him in on what was being discussed. “Oxford” came up, which I explained, refers to the 16 acres in the center of the village that is being developed by the town. (I hope I can move there someday.)

When it was my turn, I realized that since there were no spectators, I was talking to the CCTV more than just to the Selectboard. They too, spoke into the camera but often they talked so softly that even a strong mike would be challenged to hear it. We batted around the various contingencies, discussed having Steve Schecterle’s lot available for people who want to set up sales and don’t have a yard. Carolyn and Mark both were enthusiastic about the idea, and wanted to make it happen. It’s called Tag Sale Day in Deerfield.

We talked about them waiving the $5 fee, but keeping the requirement to get a license to have a sale. Then Bernie brought out the 1977 era regulations on sales. More discussion. Then Mark Gilmore suggested that it would be a good thing to have the sales out there on the road on the way into town, because there are a lot of parking spots.

Then John Paciorek, who had been silent throughout the discussion so far, weighed in, sagely, sharply. “I went into this saying I didn’t like this. But… I’m willing to give it a try.” He suggested that we still charge the fee for the sale permits. But we’d limit the number of permits, so that they were more in demand. So there will be just 100 permits available, first-come, first serve. The list of tag sales and the map will be published on the Deerfield Attractions.com website, so anyone will be able to find all of the sales. This is going to make people eager to jump in and get the permit, because it will be so well publicized on the web.

We still need to check on police issues and confirm our date but it is tentatively scheduled for Saturday Oct 4 from 8 am to 2 pm. Stay tuned, this idea is going to get a lot of life going in the little towne. And it all started with a website called Deerfield Attractions.