– Tara Hun-Dorris –

August is a busy month – so many birthdays to stay up and celebrate (August is the most common birth month in the US, but only entry level defender Ronan Seeley has an August birthday on the ‘Canes roster – Happy Birthday, Ronan!). There is also the back to school frenzy and end of summer getaways as the hazy days slip away and the nights grow long enough to rechill the outdoor pools even in the blistering heat.

All that to say that I was thrilled to be in town and available to attend this year’s ‘Canes Yard Sale.

Shopping in the Eye at PNC during a game is a nightmare of dense crowds. I don’t know why I thought the discounted merchandise shopping experience would differ. My 17 year old (not a sports fan) had his Catalyst STEM program at NC State the morning of the sale, so I figured I’d take all three kids (11, 14, 17) down to the sale around 8 and be done in time to drop Dylan at the Science House by 9:30. Maybe we’d even grab breakfast in between. Gabriel made some noise about getting up earlier – maybe 5 or 6 am – and heading down to PNC, but I am not a morning person and 8 am on a Saturday is a stretch. Gabes also put on his Necas Jersey that morning. “Take that thing off,” I chirped. “It’s freaking August heat.”

Actually, the heat wasn’t as bad as I expected for the time of year, but the line when we arrived, well it wrapped partially around the arena and made sort of a U in the parking lot. It was crazy. A line this long. To spend money. Ugh. I immediately realized I wasn’t getting Dylan to Catalyst and standing in this line with Gabriel. Fortunately, my boyfriend was able to rescue Dylan and drive him to his program. I just had to be at the Science House at 11:30 for a parent meeting, and looking at that 8 am line, I wasn’t sure I’d make it.

Advice – arrive much, much earlier than 8 am, maybe 5-6 am for STMs or come after 10 am to avoid the line if you’re not after specific merch. For non-STMs, an 11 am arrival when the second line opens is probably fine. Do not expect to find current player jerseys if you’re not among the early bird opening crowd.

Gabriel had been right. And arriving right when the yard sale opened instead of early had cost us the opportunity to buy any current player jerseys (not that I would have sprung for that).

The mood in the line wasn’t that bad. Some people were indeed wearing jerseys and seemed good with the temps. There were lots of families with kids. (Unlike other STM opportunities, family groups weren’t limited kid-wise by the number of tickets in their package, which was nice.) There was one food truck selling coffee and someone had left shareable Bo-Berry biscuits to wilt in the sun. The toilet situation was very scattered port-a-pots outside. I did not investigate the condition, but I was surprised there wasn’t more demand given all the coffee drinking. I definitely should’ve brought cold drinks for my crew.

The line wrapped around PNC and toward the back entrance. There was a tent where our name was checked off of a list of STMs and we were ushered into the bowels of PNC the way I suspect players and musicians first see the facility. We were cordoned off with no way to explore so did not get the full rock star experience.

By this point my 11-year-old daughter was both bored from standing around in a hockey-related line for almost 2 hours and about to pee her pants, but the lovely ladies working the line did usher her to a proper bathroom once we were checked in and inside.

Then it was our turn.

We were ushered into mayhem on the floor of PNC arena. It wasn’t the Eye during playoff games, but it was a dense crowd. All the current player jerseys were long gone by our approximately 10 am entrance as were most of the hats (the latter kind of grossed me out anyway). There were plenty of skates, sticks, other equipment, and pucks left, but we didn’t go for any of that. People were buying it both for memorabilia and hockey use. Goalies, in particular, seemed to be making out. And who wouldn’t want some healthy Freddie mojo for their beer league?

I’m a single mom and honestly season tickets are a stretch, so we weren’t out for collectables, though I could see buying Gabriel some of that equipment versus retail if he ever reaches NHL player proportions (they had nothing for the 5’2″ set).

What we were hoping to score were 50% off matching blank away jerseys for our patches from visiting other NHL arenas. Sadly, the only blank jerseys in full supply size wise were the retro Whalers jerseys. Other home jerseys were down to limited very large sizes. There was a lot of Eastern Conference Finals merch, which just made me sad (too soon) and some Stadium Series memorabilia, but no patches. We did score some 25th anniversary patches half off, as well as super cute matching fitted red ‘Canes logo caps for $10 each. My daughter found a winter toboggan for $5, a real steal if it’s ever cold enough to wear it in Raleigh. I went back and forth in the ladies wear section between a so-ugly-it’s-almost-cute denim patch half-cut jacket (think 1980s gone preppy, grunge, and hockey chick all at once). I decided it was too much for a 49 year old, and bought a so-ugly-it’s-actually-cute black hoodie with the ‘Canes logo on front and the CAR mess on back (I actually don’t mind the CAR mess being both a Caniac and a Gamecock alum – the red abbreviation does double-time for me).

So we walked out of the arena out about 3 hours of our lives + $100 and change, not entirely thrilled but also not disappointed. I dropped the younger kids and made it to the 11:30 am parent meeting only a minute or two late.

In summary, I’d attend the Yard Sale again and go earlier, but I wouldn’t sacrifice a fading summer beach weekend for the opportunity.