A yard sale in a cemetery?

Did you stop?

I would of had to stop. Too creepy to pass by. :-)

Tap shoes to dance on the graves of former friends.LOL

Soul sale?

So you bury the guy. Then you put a table over his grave and sell his stuff.

I have no clue.

Interesting..

I think it’s cool!

Maybe they were having an estate sale. I can’t decided if I think it’s clever or poor taste. I guess it would depend on the deceased sense of humor.

I would think it a hoot, sell off my stuff at the service, or better yet have an auction. hheheheh

Was the cemetery next to a church. Maybe it was a church yard sale. I’ve never seen anything like that before myself.

I love that idea.

When I die. I have requested an Irish funeral. 6 foot sub, keg of beer. Casual dress.

I will add, yard sale.

We couldn’t stop and find out, I’m sorry to say. We just saw it in the middle distance as we passed on the highway. We were en route to the start of family wedding events way off in the western part of upstate NY, for which we were just barely on time. So all we got was that snapshot glimpse—and all the notions that followed it. That’s why this question: maybe some flutherfolk have heard of such a thing, and maybe someone even lives near enough to have seen it and know the story.

I did hear of a coworker’s friend who died very suddenly of a heart attack in his 40s. The family held the funeral and reception at the nursery where he worked, among the potted shrubs and flowering plants, and they set out a big table with his extensive CD collection and T-shirt collection, for his friends to take mementoes of him. I thought that was a fine idea.

I can hear the buyers now, “How much for that dress, it’s to die for honey” I’m betting they bury the competition with their low prices.

There is a custom, amongst a certain sect of Mennonites—not documented anywhere that I can find—that selling family heirlooms should be done in a cemetery so that those who originally made the items can approve the new owners. This is called a goedverkoopen, which means ancestor sale. Usually goedverkoopens are held in more private cemeteries—not the ones easily visible from a highway. Mennonites are plain folk and don’t like being seen by the non-Mennonite population.

It’s an interesting practice, and I’ve been driving around the back roads of Huntington and Mifflin counties, looking for such events to photograph and, potentially, to interview those who are selling their heirloom. I have had little luck in getting people to talk to me—I think because it is something of a shameful thing to do. Most people who do this are leaving the community and moving elsewhere and dropping their Mennonite identities.

I’m surprised that you saw one so far East. I was not aware that the Mennonite population had spread to that area. Perhaps it was an imitation?

I personally think its creepy, because what if a little kid comes and is afraid of graveyards or just a normal person. BUt if you enjoy standing in cemetaries, go right ahead.

damn Yankees would do something like that! We good Southern folks have respect for dead….loll…just kidding @Jeruba !

Answering your questions! Could be some of @Silhouette‘s kinfolks selling Viagra to “impotent” people, would by my surmise!

<ducking as i leave>

@ChazMaz lmao ditto my friend!

part of my will…everyone sings “Sweet Georgia Brown” and free drinks for everyone! It has been a good ride (few rough bumps) and no one should be sad that day!

“and no one should be sad that day!”

That’s right! Amen brother. :-)

@BoBo My kinfolk don’t believe in little blue pills, we believe in popsicle sticks and duct tape. Stand up straight ya weenie.

Maybe they were selling salvation or “irregular” burial plots.

Death is part of life.