The city-wide garage sale is this coming weekend. As a New Urbanist however, I think there is an attractive alternative. Yes, I am talking about an old-fashioned swap meet. Garage sales are perfect examples of suburban living. In fact, garage sales are more accurately described as driveway sales, and driveways reign king in suburbia.

I admit my argument for a swap meet is less about the ideals of New Urbanism and more about adapting social behavior to an urban aesthetic (or what have you). A swap meet would get people out of their homes — off of their properties — and onto public grounds. The swap meet could be a carnival atmosphere: fried dough stands and balloons; a mix of the cultural festival and a book sale (or a book burning, depending on one’s persuasion).

Mind you, I’m thinking less of the Ashby flea market in Berkeley as a model (but it’s a start), and more of Noordermarkt’s Saturday market in Amsterdam, a mix of an organic farmers market with a dry goods exchange, and live music and entertainment thrown in; an “event” from any perspective.

Market Hall would be a perfect site for an annual swap meet. In the future — as Market Town is constructed on the site of the interim Market Hall — the location could possibly be along a closed Sycamore Avenue in the Sycamore Downtown area, or along Bayfront Boulevard on the waterfront, or in Refugio Valley Park (similar to the cultural festival), or even in the Home Depot parking lot (like the farmers market used to be).

Wherever the swap meet is located, the event — the day — would be a coming together as a city, not a randomly-scattered home-by-home suburban shopping spree.