Birds of a feather go shopping together.
Join your fellow bargain hunters at the 41st Cookstown Wing Ding Saturday, June 1. This year’s event will bring together the traditional, village-wide yard and craft sales the event has become known for with food trucks, children's activities and live music placed at spots throughout the main core.
More than 50 participating businesses and vendors will also offer “irresistible” deals, and local firefighters will host a boot drive as vehicles enter the village core.
“It’s a huge undertaking; there’s so much prep,” said Jenn Halliday, who along with Diana Robinson is co-chairing the Cookstown and District Chamber of Commerce-run event for the first time. “There’s smatterings of things on the main street but we’ve tried to keep the big hubs of activities in (business parking) lots.”
Wing Ding has changed with the times since its debut in 1983. It once spanned over two days, with homes throughout the village hosting weekend-long yard sales and businesses and community groups setting up booths and fundraisers on the sidewalks outside storefronts. In recent years, however, the event had condensed so that the Cookstown branch of the Innisfil ideaLAB and Library acted as the main vendor hub.
Robinson says the chamber is now trying to recalibrate Wing Ding, bringing a more seamless cohesion to the garage sale and vendors elements and shifting the event back to its original purpose — attracting visitors from throughout Ontario to the village core and its merchants.
“We don’t know how many garage sales there will be,” she said. “The vendors will be sprinkled throughout the downtown. Bring walking shoes. We’re having it more focused on the garage sales and businesses. There’s a thought Cookstown is a ‘has been’ town, that there’s nothing in Cookstown anymore. But there’s a lot here. If we can showcase that, and people know we’re alive and well, they’ll come back to those businesses.”
Halliday agrees.
“The intention was to bring more of a community feel back to the event,” she said. “Our businesses are working really hard to be vibrant and grow themselves … and create fabulous spaces. Cookstown was so vibrant 20 years ago. There were bus tours and it was the antique town. That’s not what the attraction is anymore. It’s (had) a bit of a revitalization.”
Wing Ding runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Organizers recommend getting there early, to find the best deals and ensure you get a street parking spot near the village core.
“It’s this big, magical collection of things,” chamber president Heidi Visser said. “We’ve got people that come from far and wide. You can find some special treasures. It’s just a good time. We want to highlight Cookstown — it’s a showcase event. There’s such a good mix of old and new which will cater to pretty much everybody. It's important to keep it going. People look forward to it; they all know about Wing Ding.”
For more information, email [email protected]. Maps and a full list of participants can be found at cookstownchamber.ca/wingding.html.
