Shoppers surprised by sale

MILLERTON — In 2007, the village of Millerton was dubbed one of “the 10 coolest small towns” in America by Budget Travel magazine, and Hudson Valley magazine proclaimed the village as one of the top towns of Dutchess County in 2013.

Ever wondered why? Could it be, perhaps, because the village sits at the crossroads of routes 22 and 44? Or perhaps because it is constantly looking for creative ways to get the attention of visitors?

The latter seemed to be the common explanation by visitors and merchants at a sidewalk sale on Main Street on Saturday, June 18, hosted by the Millerton Business Group. The sunny weather helped make it a perfect outing for locals and visitors alike.

The sale was an annual activity years ago, but recently it had been discontinued, according to the merchant group’s leader, Dick Hermans.

Although not a lot of visitors and residents seemed to be fully aware the sidewalk sale was happening, they ran into a nice surprise of tables outside stores with products on sale as they walked or biked into town. All stores were encouraged to participate.

Innes Humphreys had just returned from riding her bike on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail when she happened to notice some books at 30 percent off, sitting on a table outside of Oblong Books and Music.

“I came to town for a bike ride, and now I’m leaving with some books on a bike,” she said.

The sidewalk sale was organized with the intention of drumming up local business and bringing in new customers.

Vendors seemed to notice that in fact there were more customers stepping into their shops on and off throughout the day.

“We definitely see more people lingering on the sidewalks and they do come in to check out our merchandise,” said Grace Stanford, a book seller at Oblong Books.

Sales clerk Kelly Monty, from Harney and Sons Fine Tea store, was of the opinion that the sidewalk sale is a great idea because it gives merchants “an opportunity to sell stuff that didn’t sell during the holiday season,” as most products sitting outside Harney’s were marked down to half price.

The day went by successfully, as surprised shoppers unaware of the massive sale event hopped from one shop to the next.

“Now that we know about the sidewalk sale, we will look forward to it next year,” said Rhinebeck resident Carol Nelson, who came out to Millerton with her husband to grab a tea gift set from Harney’s and happened to run into the sale event.

Owner of the Hunter Bee antique store, Jonathan Bee, was excited to see people stopping at every table to check out what each shop had to offer.

“A town is like any other business — you have to brand it — and that is what we’re doing with these fun events,” Bee said. “What separates Millerton from other towns is that the merchants and the community always works together to make it noticeable and even more fun. There are always a million reasons for why people should come visit us.”