May 30th, 2026
A Monster-sized community yard sale. Blockenstein brings neighbors together to get to know one another with an eye toward creating a safer community as well as providing the opportunity for local residents to sell the extra items that have been accumulating in closets and basements for too long. Any resident with a Highlandtown address is invited to set up a table with yard sale items absolutely free of charge.
Blockenstein 2026 Recap
I have been to many Blockenstein Community Yard Sales. I can say without qualifications that this was the best Blockenstein ever.
There were over 100 sellers. There were buyers crawling all over Bank Street seeking the hidden gold from Highlandtown’s basements. Just as important, the weather was perfect.
Thanks to Sean Arnold who led a small team of volunteers to make this special community event happen But when something needed to be done, and no one was available to do it… Sean did it.
Any one who has run a Highlandtown event knows how complicated it is to get the event up and running. For Blockenstein you need a permit from the city. You need to attract a hundred families to sell their precious goodies. You need to attract hundreds of families and friends to buy those goodies. That means hanging posters, handing out flyers door-to door, and hyping Blockenstein at meetings. That means lots of advertising on social media and handling phone calls for confused sellers. You have to order a port-a-potty. You have to make sure all the parked cars are removed from Bank Street. You have to trim the tree pits, sweep up the streets, and make Highlandtown “shine”. You have to help the sellers set up their wares at six in the morning.
Blockenstein has two additional aspects, a truck to donate unsold goods to charity and a post-sale community barbecue. You have to order the truck, pickup the truck, fill the truck with goods, drive the truck to the charity, and even unload the truck and return it. And then you have to buy some sausages, hot dogs, ground beef, rolls and sweet and salty snacks. And cook and serve them.
Finally you have to clean up the street and dispose of the trash.
Sean was involved in managing and, in most cases, doing all of these.