A life-size Star Wars storm trooper stood guard against a backdrop of the desert planet Tatooine, as three-year-old twins Stella and Zoe battled using the plastic light sabers they’d snatched from a nearby prop box. The twins and their parents, Elissa and Daniel Agans, made the journey from Ferndale to forage for collectibles and see old friends at Garagapalooza.
This month, Chris O’Brien and Mike Romatowski will celebrate the twentieth year of the three-day event at their home on Worden Ave. Last year’s paid homage to the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Inside a tarp tent that ran the length of the driveway, customers examined housewares, holiday decor, and vintage apparel. But the real finds were collectible toys and games from the ’60s and ’70s, as well as those from movies and TV shows. The back of the garage looked like a shrine to Star Wars, with figures and merchandise lining walls of shelving, displayed on tables, and piled inside bins. The Simpsons and Flintstones each had their own section, as did Beanie Babies. There was even a talking Pee-wee Herman doll.
O’Brien and Romatowski acquire their merchandise on eBay, at clearance sales, and toy shows. Each year they cull from their collections (a time-consuming venture) and select a theme. O’Brien creates eye-catching signage. And they spend nearly a week of sixteen-hour days putting up the tents and painstakingly arranging the displays. The three days of the sale, they get little if any sleep.
The couple say the sale is less a moneymaker than an opportunity to “connect with old friends.” Last year, it seemed that at least every other visitor greeted them by name, and some dropped by with dinner. A customer said that she wrote a presentation about Garagapalooza for her sociology class.
Ann Bender, a nurse still in her scrubs, pawed through a box of plastic figures in their original packaging, looking for a specific Princess Leia. She said a Garagapalooza photo of her husband and son, posing with Han Solo frozen in carbonite, was the family’s Christmas card.
“I’ve been taking my son Erik here since he was a little boy,” she said. “He’s twenty-two years old and six-foot-two now.”
This year’s Garagapalooza will be September 30-October 2. O’Brien and Romatowski promise to reveal the theme this month on the Garagapalooza Facebook page.