BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Yard sales started Friday that will clear out ArtsQuest's Banana Factory in preparation for it being razed next year and replaced by a new ArtsQuest Cultural Center.
The sales will take place from 6-9 p.m. every Friday until the end of 2024 at the Banana Factory. A final three-day sale is scheduled for late December.
"We have to be out of our building in order to break ground on our new cultural center on the same footprint," ArtsQuest Manager of Visual Arts Elena Ostock said.
"And we have so much stuff here that's accumulated over 25 years — art supplies, fabric, paint, yeah, a lot of really good stuff that we don't want to see go to a Dumpster.
"But that we can't store for two years.
"The things I've had the hardest time not taking home with myself has been actually beads. I am not a jewelry person, but going through all the beads has been very fun. We also have so many home goods that have been really challenging to leave behind, lots of cool vases and mugs and stuff like that."Elena Ostock, Manager of Visual Arts, ArtsQuest
"So we're trying to kind of sell things off and give them a space and a good home. We also have a lot of stuff that we are giving away for free."
Friday's sale only occupied just one studio, plus a separate "free room," but Ostock said it's set to expand in the coming weeks.
"The final, three-day sale will be in a bigger space," she said.
Ostock said she is sad to see some of the items go.
"The things I've had the hardest time not taking home with myself has been actually beads," she said. "I am not a jewelry person, but going through all the beads has been very fun.
"We also have so many home goods that have been really challenging to leave behind, lots of cool vases and mugs and stuff like that."
New ArtsQuest Cultural Center
The new ArtsQuest Cultural Center is set to entirely replace the Banana Factory — which has done similar yard sales to prepare.
According to the project's website, the current Banana Factory building has "fallen into disrepair" and doesn't have enough space, and would be prohibitively expensive to repair.
After repairs, it still would be too small for ArtsQuest's needs.
The solution, as determined by ArtsQuest, was to plan$23 million new building — which now been updated to $26 million —that will stand at the same site.
The new building is set to contain five floors, a more-than-5,000 square foot glass studio, and dedicated outdoor spaces.
At Friday's yard sale, no update was given on the timeline of the new ArtsQuest Cultural Center.
