Andover uses citywide garage sale to market itself

Andover has a citywide garage sale set for next week, but what the north metro suburb is most intent on selling is Andover.

Officials hope that streets lined with used trikes, lawnmowers and treadmills will be a low-cost tool to market the city, drawing in nonresidents and pulling residents into nodes they might not otherwise visit.

The result, they hope, will be renewed buzz about the city's neighborhoods and amenities, and ultimately interest among prospective home buyers. Friday is the deadline to get sales on a city map.

City Council Member Sheri Bukkila, who brought the idea to the council, said her Hidden Creek East neighborhood has an annual sale, including one seven years ago that was taking place when she and her husband were inspecting a house they planned to buy.

As they waited for the inspector, neighbors walked over. One of them hugged Bukkila, said, "Welcome to the neighborhood."

"It was so endearing and friendly," Bukkila said. "All the kids were out and playing, so you could really see people out and get the character of the area."

She added: "When you see such an organized effort and it's consistent, you look at it and say, what more can we do as a community, and what do we need to address and what do we need to do to bring more people in rather than just exchanging property amongst neighbors, to bring people into the city from outside?"

There's a synergy that could come out of that, said Eric Myers, government affairs director for the North Metro Realtors Association and an Andover resident. His group has held citywide open houses already.

"The idea is, if Realtors are out there selling houses, cities should be out there selling their communities," he said. "It's kind of just a higher degree of visibility for the community for both events.

City staff will help to collect addresses and create a map of the sale locations that will be downloadable from the city's website, but City Administrator Jim Dickinson said he expects only a minimal investment of staff time.

Some on the council were concerned about traffic congestion a concentration of sales might create.

"[Sales are] already going on all summer long," Bukkila said. "Wouldn't it be simpler and less congestive to get the bang out and get it done? If it becomes an annual event people will know it's coming, one weekend, and the foot traffic is gone."