Blogfinger

Eileen Goldfinger works the Sunday shift . It was our rain date. But it was more complicated than we thought. We hardly had any Sunday customers despite the improved weather.

The worrisome rainy forecasts indicated that Saturday might be trouble but that Sunday, our rain date,  also wasn’t looking so good, although better than Saturday.

We were  aware that we  could not recall any special events on Sunday in the Grove except for religious happenings such as the Choir Festival.  And I also understood that the situation wasn’t only about the weather.

A small number of Yard Sailors emailed to tell us that they would be open on Saturday and Sunday, and we changed our seller list for them.  But we  also knew that some sellers  would do Sunday as well as Saturday without telling us.  We decided that we would not invoke  the rain date, but we did encourage any sellers who wanted to open shop on Sunday to do so.     Our town permit did include Saturday and Sunday.  Eileen and I posted that we would also open on Sunday from 9-12.

Sunday turned out to be a cloudy dry day, at least into mid-afternoon–ideal for a yard sailor event. I have no idea how many sailors did open on Sunday or how they did re: shoppers.  For us, only a small number of cheerful browsers showed up despite the nice weather.

A Sunday couple from White Plains were doing a house exchange, and they were thrilled to be in O. Grove and to find  our sale this Sunday morning.  They bought some fine pieces from Eileen–from Mexico and England. And they enjoyed browsing my photos.

Eileen and Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net. sponsors of the 14th annual Town-Wide Yard Sales, but always on Saturday, never on  Sunday until June 8, 2025.

Aa  it turned out for us, our Saturday decision to go ahead was productive despite the threatening weather.  But the extending to Sunday idea was a bust, and why?   It wasn’t just the weather.  It was instead about Sunday.  I have many times questioned why we couldn’t have events on Sunday such as art shows, yard sales, secular park concerts, specialized sales, small concerts, food trucks, beach events, vinyl markets, poetry readings, street musicians, or juried craft shows.  But now I see that there was something else going on that might  discourage  secular events on Sundays .  After all, there are many venues in town where such secular events could occur such as our parks, but none typically occur.

Is it that folks have gotten used to calm Sundays because for over 100 years nothing special was allowed due to the CMA goal of rest, prayer and contemplation on Sundays. In fact the beaches were closed all day Sunday back when, and there were rules against all sorts of activities.  But after Neptune Township took over governance of town in 1980, they would take control of what occurred in public areas of town. So if yard sales were held on Sundays there didn’t seem to be any legal reason for the Neptuners to say “No,” but they never did.

Maybe it’s just that Grovers don’t want to have more activities on Sundays because they may like that quiet day, apart from those who have religious objections  to violating the Sabbath.   Observant Jews are also like that, or  maybe it’s just a case of being reluctant to rattle the CMA.    The Sunday morning beach closure situation is more complicated.

So our attempt to continue our yard sale on Mt. Hermon Way by carrying it over to Sunday June 8,  turned out to be a dud.  Does that mean that OG should discourage or even ban Sunday events?     Well my opinion about this is that Sunday events should not be frowned upon, and there doesn’t appear to be any  legal reason to block such events. However, maybe  quiet Sundays are  what Grovers prefer.

We know that the CMA owns the land, but much of that land is in the hands of homeowner leaseholders,  and public thoroughfares  such as parks are managed by Neptune on behalf of all OG citizens and the boardwalk    And the private stores and eateries on Main Avenue do remain open on Sundays. So will the future bring more Sunday events here?

We’ll see what the “Art on the Porch” folks do regarding the event on June 14 when rain is predicted that Saturday.   Their rain date is Sunday July 15.

MANOS HADJIDAKIS AND MELINA MERCUORI:  “Never On Sunday.”