Longboat's Royal Rummage sale draws closer

Did you know a royal event is coming to Longboat Key?

The queen isn’t visiting, but who needs a “real” royal when you have the St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Royal Rummage Sale to look forward to?

This year’s fundraiser will begin March 6 for early birds who care to pay $5 to get a look at everything before it’s picked over. The event will be open to everyone March 7. 

The early bird sale’s fee is a long-standing tradition with the annual fundraiser.

“We saw an opportunity to give more for charity,” Chair Penny Koerner said. “People are willing to pay a little bit of money because it goes to charity.”

Starting this week, the church’s volunteers will be working every day to sort and price everything before the early bird sale begins. Since September, they have been gathering after church on Wednesdays to box up and sort donations.

That’s a little bit later than they normally start (in July), so Koerner said they have a bit less this year. They’re maximizing the collections they have, though, and Koerner is hopeful that once people get used to a later start date for collections, they’ll get more donations again.

Koerner has been a chair of the sale for nine years and was co-chair with the late Ingrid Wisniewski, who Koerner said worked on the sale until about two weeks before her recent death.

Koerner, who will be stepping down as chair after this year, said Wisniewski is sorely missed, but she’s not carrying the weight of the Royal Rummage alone.

“All sorts of people have stepped up to help,” Koerner said. “We have very generous people on the island.”