Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.   On Saturday morning, Mountain Forum for Peace volunteer Brent Warren noticed a cowboy looking guy scrutinizing a wood burning stove.

It was the MFP Annual Yard Sale, the fundraiser that supports the events that the non-profit organization supports during the year. Brent is one of the mainstream salespersons, finding the most unique, absurd items and putting a price tag on them.

For example, three years ago, he was trying to get someone to purchase a used tea bag for $84,000 saying that John Lennon had squeezed flavor out of it.

No-one was buying but one person did say he would have shelled out the cash if Elton John had used it. So last year, he advertised the teabag, now wrinkled and a bit moldy, for the same price. The Elton John fan did not return, but another person said he would have purchased it if it had been touched by Prince.

Sadly, the tea bag went unsold again and Brent, unfazed by failure, amped up the sales pitch this year.

He decided to try his spiel on the cowboy eyeing the stove, telling him he’d sell it for $20. The stove was heavy and no one was eager to keep it. When the cowboy asked Brent where the money went, Brent told him about the peaceful goals of the MFP, the man was skeptical, saying he was ex-military, a WASP, and they could be butting heads in the future.

Brent then described the Carousel of Happiness, how veteran Scott Harrison had created Nederland’s landmark purveyor of joy, because of his former veteran friends who died in combat. He described how local cub scouts carried the American flag to the center of the Carousel on Memorial Day.

The man bought the stove and he looked like he was on his way to talk to Scott.

Each year, the MFP Yard Sale has moving stories to tell, how someone finds an item they have desperately needed and couldn’t afford. How families leave with $5 bags piled high with clothes for their children, jackets, shoes, hoodies, hats.

The children’s space was piled high with toys and books and games and huge stuffed animals, bikes and helmets.

Kitchen ware and antique dishes and fancy glasses; cast-iron pans, a fainting couch and a dammit doll. It is so much fun to grab and know you can afford it.

Crowds of people showed up on Friday and Saturday and then meandered around on Sunday, waiting for 12:30 when everything is free. At noon, the doors are closed to give the volunteers a chance to put away the items that should be saved for next year. The line grows longer outside, the kids peer through the windows, hoping that the item of their dreams will still be there. When the doors open, the shoppers charge in, knowing exactly where they are headed.

Once the doors close for the second time, the volunteers show up, ready for the backbreaking, tedious work of packing up everything left over to be transported down to Boulder.

They breathe a sigh of relief and satisfaction knowing that for another year, with donations and labor from the community they can help make the world a better, more peaceful place to live.

(Originally published in the June 7, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)