Trading 'the stuff of life'

On a small Barron Park street lined with patches of wildflowers and dandelions, rows of tables were piled high with items ranging from shawls as delicate as spider webs to stacks of vintage records and weathered books.

Neighbors at the Tippewango Court home of Romola Georgia pored over the myriad items Satuday, June 16, donating their own and taking another in return. But it wasn't a garage sale; it was a "FreeSale."

A FreeSale is a pseudo-yard sale in which participants exchange gently used items with their friends for free. Georgia said she hopes to use the event to promote sharing and re-purposing the "stuff of life."

The tables in front of Georgia's white picket fence created an appealing aisle of goods. Boxes of blooming sunflowers and fennel plants lured plant enthusiasts to the gardening table; a heap of X-Men trading cards from someone's childhood was pile upon another. An elaborate six-CD changer stood out among the electronic offerings.

Many items displayed carried personal significance to their previous owners and elicited stories and nostalgia.

"I remember wearing these everyday," Georgia exclaimed as she held a pair of cropped, woolen riding pants from her youth. "It's funny to think that they would make a wonderful costume now."

Describing another favorite belonging — a turquoise brocade evening jacket — she said: "I remember wearing this jacket to several wonderful holiday events, and I just had a blast."

FreeSale shopper Debbie Mytels, who helped organize the event, said she sees the exchange as more than an opportunity to trade belongings. She said she hopes "people see it as an opportunity to try anything and expand (their) horizons."

For the last three years Georgia has also been organizing ladies' clothing exchanges for Transitions Palo Alto, a nonprofit organization founded to help people explore ways to think about their impact on the planet and decreasing their dependence on fossil fuels. She said she hopes the FreeSale will become a tradition, and she plans to expand the concept to other neighborhoods in the future.

The event "is a great opportunity to give away things that are still useful that you don't need. It keeps stuff out of the landfill, prevents you from having to go shopping and makes you think about the consequences of everything we purchase in terms of the environment," she said, citing the unfair labor practices and costs the environment of producing goods.

"It enables you to think broadly about your activities," she said.