By Kay Whatley, Editor
The Tarboro-based Edgecombe County Veterans’ Military Museum (ECVMM) is holding a yard sale on Saturday, September 16, 2017, 7am-noon. Alongside the yard sale tables, there will be a food truck and activities for people of all ages.
In addition to offering donated items in the yard sale, baked goods will be for sale. With each purchase, you’ll be raising funds to support this museum — which is dedicated to honoring and preserving history of Edgecombe County service members.
Come and check out the yard sale items. Pick up a Pelican Snowballs treat from the food truck on-site. A Dee Jay will provide music throughout the yard sale. Plus, kids may get their faces painted or enjoy free popcorn provided by ECVMM.
Basically, the yard sale will cover the parking lot from the museum to the adjacent city building, and part of the back parking lot by the museum’s military murals and newly laid commemorative-brick path.*
And, the museum will be open until 4pm, so when you’re done at the yard sale you can walk through and see photos of the area’s service men and women (1,000+ photos of Edgecombe County Veterans from the Revolutionary War forward), check out uniforms, guns, and artifacts, or do some reading in their on-site library.
Preparations for the yard sale are underway. Right now, the museum is asking the public to donate items that ECVMM may resell at the yard sale to raise funds. What can you donate? They are accepting housewares, office supplies, clothing, accessories, and just about anything you’d find at a yard sale. Did you get new lawn equipment this summer? Donate the old! Last year’s school clothing no longer fits? Donate it and help families outfit their kids while supporting the museum. If you have items you wish to donate towards the Yard Sale, contact the museum Thursday-Saturday, 10am-4pm, at 252.823.0891, or message them through Facebook.
Vendor spaces for the yard sale day are available as of this writing. Vendors are invited to apply to sell food, hot dogs, or snacks until the sale ends at noon. An inflatables vendor is also being sought.
To find out more, take a trip to the Edgecombe County Veterans’ Military Museum and check out the exhibits — or drop off items to donate for their yard sale — at 106 W Church Street, Tarboro NC — across the parking lot from the Tarboro town hall. The museum is open 10am-4pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays each week. Admission is free.
The ECVMM website at edgecombevet.com is currently undergoing a redesign, but features a photo slideshow. ECVMM and yard sale updates and photos may be found on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/EdgecombeVetMuseum.
Has someone in your family served? Anyone who has lived in, has ties to, or is from Edgecombe County may request that their military photo be placed on the Veteran’s Memorial Wall inside the ECVMM. Ask about including your photo, participating in the Veteran’s Oral History Project, or purchasing a brick for the outdoor memorial. Or, volunteer to help at the museum for a few hours each week, manning “Check Point Charlie” and welcoming visitors.
Note that on most Mondays at 11am, ECVMM holds a Veteran’s Flag Raising Ceremony for a local veteran lost. The next ceremony is September 4, 2017, when a flag will be raised for Michael Brandon Harrell. The Flag Memorial is held on the Town Commons (corner of W Wilson Street and Albemarle Avenue in Tarboro NC.
The Edgecombe County Veterans Office, part of the county government, offers services for veterans and may be found at www.edgecombecountync.gov/…/veterans_office.
*In July 2017, the ECVMM held a brick laying ceremony. Fifty bricks were installed in the outdoor Veterans’ Brick Memorial.
