To the Editor:

The highly anticipated Altamont village-wide garage sales put on by the Altamont PTA will be back this year and held on May 1!  Although we are looking forward to bringing back this annual tradition, we are not without many challenges that COVID has presented.

The Parent Teacher Association is looking to bring it back to our original “just” garage sale days in light of our ongoing pandemic. We are asking everyone involved to please adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines of wearing masks and social distancing.

The PTA will not be inviting food trucks this year and will not have any vendors in Orsini Park. This was an extremely tough decision on our part and please know it was not taken lightly. The two main reasons for not allowing food trucks are:

— 1. The food trucks would promote gathering and that is what we are trying to avoid this year; and

— 2.  Our Altamont businesses need our support this year more than ever! All businesses have taken a hard hit in the last year with COVID and this is the perfect opportunity to support our local Altamont restaurants and eateries. The PTA will be reaching out to the local businesses and encouraging special garage-sale-day menus and choices that we will include in our packets.

We are looking forward to supporting our local residents and businesses on May 1!

To be included on the garage-sale list, the fee is $20 which is a donation to the Altamont Elementary School PTA. If you plan on having a garage sale, please make the $20 donation. The PTA spends a ton of time organizing this and all proceeds go directly to support our wonderful programs at Altamont.

Twenty dollars puts you on the map, gives you a lawn sign and marketing — and goes to our PTA. This is our largest fundraiser of the year!

Please email Aesgaragesale@gmail.com for the registration form. The deadline for forms is Wednesday April 21.

The AES PTA thanks you for your continued support and understanding during this time!

Leanne Royer

Vice President

Altamont PTA