LAWAI — April 11 is the next Lawai Cannery Row Self Storage and Warehouse garage sale, Lorna Santos said. Santos, one of the Lawai Cannery managers, was laid up due to an injury she suffered leading up to the Sunday
LAWAI — April 11 is the next Lawai Cannery Row Self Storage and Warehouse garage sale, Lorna Santos said.
Santos, one of the Lawai Cannery managers, was laid up due to an injury she suffered leading up to the Sunday sale which benefited the Waimea High School Project Graduation program.
“This has got to be the biggest sale, yet,” Santos said. “We had cars lined up outside before we even opened. It seems to be getting bigger every time we hold it.”
The Lawai Cannery normally hosts the quarterly garage sales with proceeds benefiting a local non-profit organization, Santos said.
In the past, the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics program, a hula halau, the Spontaneous Club raising funds for the Toys for Tots, the Lihu‘e Baseball League and other community organizations have been beneficiaries of the event which allows some of the storage unit owners to clean out their units.
Santos said if some of the vendors do not sell out, the remaining goods are contributed to the ReStore thrift shop at the Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity which makes it a win-win for everyone.
Ray Tuohy, the owner of Lawai Cannery, was in town and able to experience the sale first-hand, Santos said, noting the experience of seeing so many people on hand leaving him speechless.
“He said he’s never seen anything like this,” Santos said, laughing in her wheelchair. “He even found some signs he liked and asked if we had use for it so he could buy them.”
One of the keys to the success of the sale is the availability of food, she said.
“The Waimea High School Project Grad people said they were going to grill burgers, but I told them they needed more than that because people get hungry while they’re here. That led them to having some other food like the Spam musubi and other offerings. Hamburgers and hot dogs aren’t enough,” Santos said.
Maynard Shay was one of the 35 vendors, noting that proceeds from his clothing sales would benefit breast cancer research.
“Everything will be turned in when I go to Florida to participate in a run benefiting breast cancer,” the former basketball coach said. “Everything I do helps with the fight against cancer.”
Carolyn Lum, a frequent shopper at the sales, said she just had to come check out the activity.
“My thing is hats, and I already found a few,” she said from under the brim of a hat that housed several other finds from the offerings.
The sale scheduled for April 11 will be benefiting one of the canoe clubs on the island.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
