Plainville Tag Sale Draws Hundreds

By Dean Wright, The Bristol Press

August 9, 2021

The Plainville Campground held its annual tag sale Saturday, continuing an over 20-year tradition of supplying rummaging bargain hunters.

Alan and Linda Roy, tag sale hunters, said they like to look for older items and good deals. Alan said he used to hunt for sports cards but not as often anymore.

“You look for some stuff you might not want to buy in the store,” said Alan. “Other than that, it’s a good day to get out. My wife and I have been doing this for 30 or 40 years. We go tag saling every week.”

He said that he and his wife will go to tag sales in New York, Massachusetts and sometimes Maine.

“It’s great to find things that are half price,” said Linda Roy. “I’m the one that likes to do the real picking. I love finding art.”

Alan said Linda also collects bells and has over 500 in her collection.

Tag sale vendor Peter Flynn creates light boxes, epoxy art, customized guitar bodies, charcuterie boards and utilizes Lichtenberg wood burning in his art. The technique creates vein-like burn designs by running electricity through wood.

“This is my first time coming here,” said Flynn. “It’s been great. Everybody has been real nice and it’s good to be back out. People are knowledgeable about their items. I come out for myself. It’s a hobby (creating art). My son became a marine four years ago and I got bored.”

According to its website, the Plainville Campground, with its over 80 cottages and around 17 acres of land, was founded by the New Haven District of the Methodist Church in 1865. The campground played host to a form of religious revivals and chautauqua events for many years. It still hosts non-denominational Sunday services throughout July and August. The property was sold to the then newly-made Plainville Campgrounds Association in 1957 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This is an over 20-year tradition,” said event organizer Jill Colon of the sale. “Five years ago, we started adding vendors other than just the residents. Today, we have about 50 participants with about half tage salers and the other vendors. This is the first year we’ve counted cars and we’re probably up to about 700 (as of around noon). We had 64 before we started, the early birds.”

The tag sale is typically slated for the first Saturday in August. Colon said it was also common for neighborhoods surrounding the campground to also hold tag sales as others were drawn to the large one. The event was held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Colon noted that the rented space proceeds would be utilized by what she called the Ladies Guild, helping projects about the campground and chosen charities.