Chicago Activities: Ravenswood Manor Neighborhood Garage Sale
If you’re like me, you love a good deal, specifically a good deal on things from thrift stores, second hand markets, and garage sales. For one, I think events like those are great to check out if you just need something fun to do, but beyond that they are perfect for college students who are in need of cheap furniture, room decor, and really anything else they can get their hands on. The Ravenswood Manor Garage Sale in particular is a unique and valuable opportunity for both of these reasons, and based on my own experience I would highly recommend it to any college student in the Chicago area.
Let’s start with an overview of the event and the neighborhood itself. Ravenswood Manor is located on the northwest side of the city, west of both the central Ravenswood area and Lincoln Square. The neighborhood is residential and renowned for the style of its homes, ranging from standard Chicago two-flats to beautiful and historic mid-century masterpieces. The Garage Sale event is a long-standing tradition for the neighborhood. They advertise an incredible 125+ homes selling items, with over 1000 bargains available. In my own experience attending a few weeks ago, those numbers are at least accurate if not an underestimate. Beyond that, there are also a ton of homes and pop-up stands selling food and drinks, so you can plan to have brunch or lunch at some point during your shopping. The food options ranged from classic Chicago street food like hot dogs and sandwiches, to authentic homemade options from a ton of different cultures.
No matter what item you are in the market for when you come to the Ravenswood Manor Garage Sale, you will very likely find something that works. I found quite literally everything under the sun being sold at different spots throughout the entire neighborhood. Obviously furniture was a super popular option being that most spots are garages, but additionally there was a huge selection of clothing, other houseware items, vintage collectibles, and anything in between. It was so cool to see the variety of items, and a surprising amount of them were specific to Chicago or even Ravenswood itself, creating a really cool local charm throughout the entire event. There were also a surprising amount of people with very extensive collections of items like vinyl records, special silverware, and other things like that with a ton of them for sale. Overall, the items you can find are limitless and it is impossible to know what you might come across, so go check it out!
Lastly, I want to offer some tips for anyone who has not attended the event before. First up, please make sure to bring at least some cash with you. A ton of the sellers had cashless options like venmo and zelle, but a good handful were cash only or preferred cash, so it is a great idea to bring some if you can. Next, make sure to bring your own bags. Being that these are garage sales and not actual stores they do not have bags for you. That one may seem pretty obvious, but I saw a ton of people carrying small items or handfuls of items and had obviously not thought to bring a bag. That last tip I have is to be open to conversations with people, especially the people you buy things from! The vibe at this event is super friendly and lighthearted, and the sellers definitely look forward to the opportunity to meet and connect with people from all over the city.
The goal of this post was to highlight the Ravenswood Manor Garage Sale for all of the various reasons why it’s a great event. Beyond that, I hope that it can also serve to offer an example of just one single event that is a great representation of the hundreds if not thousands of similar events going on all the time throughout Chicago. It is an amazing place to be, and I highly urge you to consider it and DePaul as your choice for college, you will not regret it!
~Jeff