Barbara Lawlor, Black Hawk.  Every spring the High Country Auxiliary recruits the Timberline Fire Protection District muscles to help them set up the Gilpin County Exhibition Hall for their annual flea market.

Firefighters heft the tables and the boxes and heavy furniture that has been collected throughout the year. Volunteers help the auxiliary fill up the tables with treasures and strange things that are just what someone out there wants, and needs.

Household items abound. Why go out and buy a new coffeemaker when you have your choice of a bunch of them for a couple bucks? Good deals abound. Knick knacks are displayed everywhere and you can watch buyers’ resolve melt as they find a ceramic cat they have been longing for, or a vintage record player that would amaze their friends.

Yard sales don't just have good deals. They are fun. And they fund some good causes.

The auxiliary and the fire district have a symbiotic relationship. The firefighters do the work and the auxiliary brings in the money, which goes to support the fire district. Everyone wins, including the people who go home pleased with the good deals they negotiated at the sale.

HCA president Susan Keim-Tamm said that last year's flea market brought in $16,000 which funded EMT training for 20 firefighters. The auxiliary also showed up to 12 emergency events, supplying the firefighters with food and drinks, necessary to keep them going fighting a fire or working an accident scene.

The auxiliary also puts on the annual Gilpin County Fair Pancake Breakfast and the annual Chili Cookoff.

(Originally published in the June 22, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)