Fun and Frugality at Chowder & Marching Tag Sale

You've got to be quick to snap up some of the treasures at the Chowder & Marching tag sale. And preferably, have manners.

"If you see something being unloaded, you should say 'may I please see that?' to claim it," said Lori Lowell, of New Milford, CT. "But not everyone does."

Lowell gestured to the group of onlookers standing at the spot where tag sale donors pull up in cars to unload new merchandise.

Lowell should know. She's been coming with the same group of ladies to the Chowder & Marching tag sale at Crusher Yard in Bedford for years; they make a day of it, starting with breakfast. Her finds in recent years include antique flowerpots for under $20 that would have "easily gone for $125 a an antique shop," she said. This year, she had so far picked up a framed map of Somers dating back to 1867.

Shoppers on Friday would also find board games, a jogging stroller, a glass-topped console table and a Pottery Barn cabinet with nary a scratch. You never know what you'll find at the tag sale each year, said Linda deMenocal, a tag sale organizer and Chowder & Marching Club member.

"We've got over 200 volunteers organizing merchandise, doing pickups and manning the sale," she said. All proceeds support C&M causes, which range from little league sponsorship, to scholarships for Fox Lane students to arts programs for Bedford youth.

The club started in the 1950s as a way to supplant enriching activities in the community that weren't being funded by the PTA, she said. Twenty couples from Bedford Village belong to the service organization.

"Back then, that was about how many people you could fit into a living room," said Candy Borner, a member. That practice hasn't changed. The group meets monthly to plan programs and vote on how to spend dollars raised.

The group supports programs in sports, the arts, and academics. Beneficiaries include the Bedford-Pound Ridge Little League, Bedford Village Swim Team, Fox Lane Athletics, Fox Lane yearbook, Friends of Music and the Arts, New Youth Performing Theater, and Caramoor Culture, Music and Arts Educational Programs for BVES students.

In addition to the tag sale, club members and community volunteers had cleaned up over 20 miles of Bedford roads up until this weekend, and have capital improvement projects in the works, said deMenocal. "Our next goal is to create a bike/walk trail around the perimeter of the Bedford Village park."

The sale hours are from 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Saturday.