The Eureka Chamber of Commerce’s 14th annual Garage Sale and Swap Meet attracted about 12,000 shoppers, chamber president Chuck Maher said.
The event was held March 6 in the Six Flags parking lot, and Maher said he believes attendance was down “a little bit, but not a whole lot.”
The massive shopping event included hundreds of vendors selling a wide range of merchandise as well as food vendors.
Chamber executive director Krista Overstreet said she saw a lot of antiques, crafts, cars and other items being sold. She also said the food vendors were a hit this year.
“I think everybody was excited to be able to attend it, and it was a great day,” Overstreet said.
Eureka Mayor Sean Flower volunteered at the event and said it was “fantastic.” He said he enjoyed seeing people out and about.
Maher said the event is the chamber’s major fundraiser for the year.
“We had to work directly with the (St. Louis County) health department,” Maher said. “We had a lot of meetings with them to get the guidelines in place and procedures in place. We were able to meet all their criteria and were able to pull it off.”
Overstreet said the chamber will not disclose how much money was raised at the event. The chamber charged $10 per vehicle to enter and $75 for merchandise vendor spots. Food vendors paid $250.
Eureka Fire Protection District Chief Greg Brown, a chamber board member, said the money from the event helps run the chamber, fund its scholarship program and finance donations the organization makes to community causes.