GREENFIELD — Greenfield’s biggest annual rummage sale provides potent hunting grounds for folks shopping for rare or bargain items.
KidsPlay Inc. Children’s Theatre’s sole yearly fundraiser, Arts and Rummage, is slated for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Hancock County 4-H Fairgrounds, 620 N. Apple St., Greenfield.
The eclectic event features about 50 vendors as well as concessions and live entertainment from Hearts Ablaze Cloggers, Wilkerson Dance Studio, CrazyLake Singers, Indy Force from Musicality Arts and vocalist Steve Langford.
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Vendors will offer antiques, collectibles, jewelry, handmade soaps and other items, home decor, records, custom embroidery, toys, baby clothes, Christmas items and Girl Scout cookies, among other things.
The fourth annual event, which combines a community sale with a local talent showcase, typically raises some $1,200 for KidsPlay Inc., a longstanding Hancock County children’s theater program.
KidsPlay, a nonprofit organization, is directed by Christine Schaefer, who works for the Daily Reporter. Founded in 1998, the community theater group typically puts on two productions a year with elementary and middle school-age children.
Vicky Shininger of Greenfield has watched her son, Joseph, 12, flourish in the five years he’s been a part of KidsPlay, she said.
“He’s developed a sense of confidence,” she said. “He’s a quiet, witty kid, and it’s fun to watch him on stage.”
The youngest child, he was always the first to dig into the costume closet and entertain the rest of his family, Shininger recalled. She decided to get him involved in KidsPlay and other local theater efforts to develop and nourish that latent ability.
She feels thankful KidsPlay doesn’t charge anything for youngsters to participate, she said.
She and her son are signed up to lend a hand on Feb. 23, helping sell concessions and take admissions. Donuts, coffee and lunch food items will be on sale throughout the day.
Admission is $1, but people age 12 and younger enter free.
Cristy Corwin-Howard, director of Hearts Ablaze, a local competitive clogging group, has brought her dance troupe to perform at the event for the last three years.
Some 30 to 40 dancers start their new season in January, and Arts and Rummage is their first performance of the year, a local, friendly show where the dancers can perform dances new to them for the first time.
The group brings dancers of all ages, some as young as 5 years old and some adult performers in their 60s, Corwin-Howard said.
“We enjoy doing it every year,” she said, adding that Hearts Ablaze and KidsPlay use each other for performance opportunities whenever they can, whether it’s variety shows or intermissions at KidsPlay performances.
KidsPlay’s next performance will be “Fairy Tale Confidential,” a collection of 10-minute one-act plays in which well-known characters tell their side of the story or “what really happened.” Performances are slated for April 12, 13 and 14. For more information, visit KidsPlay on Facebook or email Schaefer at [email protected].
