From Friday, June 2, to Sunday, June 4, the Mountain Forum for Peace (MFP) held their 2023 Yard Sale at the Nederland Community Center. The annual sale serves as the main fundraiser for the organization, which promotes peace in mountain communities through advocacy, education, and other supportive endeavors.

The MFP has continued its mission of peace in Nederland since 1985, and has hosted the Yard Sale for nearly as long. The first sale was held in the yard of one of the MFP’s founding members, Barbara Farwell, and has since become a local favorite event, looked forward to by many as soon as the snow begins to melt.

Throughout the rainy weekend members of the MFP and other volunteers sold many items to the excited community. The auditorium, gymnasium, and second floor hallway and vestibule were packed with practical items like clothes and kitchen gadgets, sports gear, including ski gear donated by Eldora, and ancient items, like rotary telephones.

An old rustic piano was picked up by the owners of Sweet Sue’s, just in time to be utilized for their Open Mic night. A 12.5 foot long exotic python hide and an authentic leopard skin with a quilted underside were noted as two of the strangest items donated and sold at this year’s Yard Sale.

On Sunday all items were sold at half price up until 11:30 a.m., when the sale closed down for just a half hour before reopening again for a literal free-for-all. Every item that was left within the building was offered for free, and a mad dash of shoppers swept through the Nederland Community Center, leaving very little left to be packed up and donated to ARC.

Overall the 2023 MFP Yard Sale was a great success and, as MFP President and Secretary Jessie Ansari noted, may have broken some records.

Great thanks to all those who donated, volunteered, and shopped this year, helping to contribute to the worthy cause of peace in all of our lives.