The inaugural Davis Square Community Yard Sale is 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, with Somervillians encouraged to host sales of inexpensive stuff from their homes in yards, driveways or sidewalks or – for those who lack their own outdoor space – to use a complimentary table in Statue Park.
The yard sale map showed 20 locations as of Saturday. The event was disrupted and delayed by a nor’easter from its original date last week, said Louisa Stephens Bissett, an organizer with the Davis Square Neighborhood Council.
“Our hope is that by advertising together, we’ll attract more foot traffic,” Bissett said. “If this goes well, maybe next year we can grow this pilot idea into a citywide event” – like the city’s famous decentralized music event, Porchfest.
Medford hosts a citywide yard sale this weekend too, with more than 100 households were signed up, though Bissett said this was not the inspiration for the Davis Square event. The idea in Somerville goes back to a participatory budgeting process last year. “I was one of the volunteer budget delegates that was responsible for narrowing down over 700-plus community-submitted ideas to the 20ish that made it to the ballot,” Bissett said. The yard sale concept didn’t make it to the finals, but was liked, and Bissett mention it to neighbors, who “showed real enthusiasm.”
“Originally I was going to explore a multifamily yard sale for my street,” she said. “Now that I’m on the board of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council, the program committee decided to try holding a Davis-wide sale.”
The Mayor’s Office has floated the idea of having community yard sales by ward next summer, similar to community cleanups, Bissett said, and the city is co-sponsoring this year’s event, including providing the tables being set up in Statue Park.
The sales map is at davissquarenc.org/community.
This post was updated Oct. 4, 2026, to fix a figure describing the number of signups.
