07/27/2026
a note on the future of the Providence Rock And Roll Yard Sale and the Somerville Rock And Roll Yard Sale . . .
while we will likely continue to do occasional smaller special pop-up events, we have kinda decided to retire from our regular Spring and Fall Rock + Roll Yard Sales. it was a very good run — from 2003-2025 — but enough things conspired against us in recent years for us to decide to quietly walk away from organizing these markets:
our dealings with our cities of Providence and Somerville, and our former sponsors, aren’t what they were. they used to welcome and encourage us, but nowadays different leadership has made things harder and harder.
the weather has become more unpredictably predictable, meaning it’s almost certain, or predictable, that the weather for outdoor events like ours will be unpredictable. wind, rain, hot and cold can turn a successful date into one where not so many people come out these days. it’s just not worth the risk anymore.
our ages and health have begun to make it harder to physically pull things off the way we once could. we always did things in a very scrappy, diy fashion, where it was nearly always just the two of us doing all of the work behind our Rock + Roll Yard Sales. this helped keep our costs down and also made it so we could maintain personal relationships with our vendors because it was just us out there dealing with and helping everyone, but in recent years we’ve had to ask for and rely on help we could not afford financially. sure, we could raise vendor fees, but we just didn’t want for things to go in that direction.
there are also just too darn many events these days.
so we’re bowing out. we know it’s made a financial impact on our loyal vendors. we also know our amazing longtime following of attendees will miss our events. but we just couldn’t keep pushing our heavy, record-laden cart of vinyl records up a steeper and steeper hill of challenges any longer without it paying too much of a personal and physical price. but we thank everyone who played a part in what we do for decades — we’re really happy and proud of what we shared with you!
best,
Chris & Jennifer Daltry
