There’s a sense of accomplishment when you discover a quality garage sale, especially when you find that long-lost item that fate appeared to tie you to. You didn’t so much find it. With a ray of light shooting down from the heavens and a soft melody ringing in your head, it found you.
I still flaunt my most valued findings like trophies. There’s the silk Hawaiian shirt I found in eighth grade for $8, and the vintage Larry Bird Boston Celtics jersey I found in college for $5 (I didn’t care if it was made of cloth and a few sizes too small for me; it added to the flavor).
The one-of-a-kind garage sales, the ones you keep as your own little secret in fear of losing your dream item to a flock of people, are rare. I know of such a can’t-miss sale, and I’m about to let you in on the secret for the simple fact that I know there’s enough spoils to go around. Head to 11261 North Eagle Lake Blvd., behind Maple Grove Junior High School, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 20. There, you’ll find Tommy Dehler’s garage transformed into a music Mecca.
Dehler and friend Jeffrey Larson, longtime music collectors, are pooling their resources and throwing their first of what may become an annual Rock and Roll Garage Sale. A garage that resembles more of a record store will be stacked with over 4,000 music items, including CDs and DVDs, but the prized possession for many music nuts will be the surplus of vinyl records.
“There’s been just a resurgence of interest in records and vinyl,” said Larson, who used to be a record store manager. “Not only baby boomers but kids are kind of stumbling upon their parents’ record collections. They’re finding new music. And the baby boomers are kind of harking back to their youth, like ‘Hey I used to have all those records, I love records’”
Entire catalogs of rock bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Led Zeppelin can be found on the tables, with the sheer volume of classic rock collections being the primary selling point. But there is also a variety of genres such as jazz, country, and classical.
The average price found at the sale is around $3 to $5, with the cheapest at $1 and some rare high end items for around $20.
“There’s something for everyone, but it’s not that we dug out all of our records out of our grandpas’ basements and put a bunch of Lawrence Welk stuff out,” Larson said. “There are a lot of garage sales where people just want to dump their stuff, but this is really targeting people who are serious about their music. But we still want to have people come in and go, ‘Hey, cool I’ve been looking for that,’ and not have to step over lawnmowers or oil.”
In place of the typical lawn ornaments will be Brian Vanderwerf, lead singer of Twin Cities rock band Chooglin’, who will start his live acoustic set at 2 p.m. That way, when that item of your dreams finds you and the light shines down, the music won’t just be in your head.

For more information on the garage sale, contact Jeffrey Larson at 763-647-9972 or jeffrey_a_larson@yahoo.com.