It’s time again for thrifters and deal-seekers to head to Lincoln County with their trucks, trailers and small bills. The 25th annual Great Oregon Coast Garage Sale returns over Easter weekend, with about 100 yard and estate sales taking place April 18-20 throughout Lincoln City. For the first time, Newport is joining in the listings, too. “We get calls year-round about this,” said Lori Arce-Torres, executive director of the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event. “People plan their vacations around the Great Oregon Coast Garage Sale.” The three-day sale is always held the third weekend in April. During one of Arce-Torres’ first years on the job, that weekend fell on Easter. “So, I thought, we’ll just change the date. No big deal,” she said. “But I had no idea. People plan their vacations for the entire year. There were so many upset people that I changed the date. I promised them I’ll never do it again.” The garage sale dates fall on Easter weekend again this year, but that does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm. This year’s event map will feature 78 listings across the Lincoln City area, spanning from Rose Lodge to Depoe Bay, along with a handful of listings in Newport. And those are just the registered locations. “We also have a lot of people who, their neighbor is on the map, so they’re just going to set their stuff out and have a garage sale as well,” Arce-Torres said. “There’s way over 100 sales within Lincoln City.” For the past eight years, the free weekly newspaper Oregon Coast Today has published the official garage sale map. “It is always one of our most popular features,” owner and publisher Patrick Alexander wrote in email. “Our normal spring circulation is about 8,500 copies per week, but when the garage sale comes around, we bump that up by at least 1,000 copies to deal with demand.” The map will be available online at oregoncoasttoday.com starting April 11. The physical map is printed in the paper April 16 and will be available through the sale weekend. Free copies of Oregon Coast Today can be picked up from blue newsstand boxes throughout Lincoln City and at the chamber offices. “The interest in the garage sale map is intense,” Alexander said. “Starting days ahead of our publication date, we get calls from the chamber office, where staff are besieged by eager treasure hunters seeking to get their hands on a copy.” The event has been going for as long as Alexander and Arce-Torres can remember. Neither was exactly sure when it started. But a search through The Oregonian’s archives reveals that the chamber ran ads for its “second annual” garage sale in 2002, making this the 25th year of the event. New this year, the Newport Chamber of Commerce has joined in the effort. Perhaps due to the holiday weekend, only a handful of sales were listed from Newport, but the city’s chamber plans to participate in future years, too. Maggie Conrad, event director with the Newport Chamber, previously worked in Lincoln City and knows the impact of the Great Oregon Coast Garage Sale. “There’s people that come from all over,” she said. “They make a day of it.” Map listings give addresses and a description of the kinds of items for sale. Tools, camping equipment and furniture are some of the most sought-after items, Arce-Torres said. “People bring their trucks, their trailers, whatever they’ve got to take home what they find,” she said. “It brings so many people to town. This is one of the biggest things we do.” The Great Oregon Coast Garage sale also kicks off Lincoln City’s Community Days week. Those events start off with Mudflat Golf, held at Siletz Bay during low tide from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, April 18. For $5, players will be loaned an iron and a ball to play a 9-hole “course” across mudflats. Proceeds benefit the Taft High School golf teams. That Friday evening, the community is invited to a bonfire, starting at 5 p.m. at Taft Beach, with free hot dogs and s’mores. Saturday’s activities include an Easter egg hunt at Schooner Creek Discovery Park. The event begins at 11 a.m. and the hunt starts at noon. For a full list of Community Days activities, visit the event’s Facebook page. — Samantha Swindler covers features for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Here is Oregon. Reach her at sswindler@oregonian.com. Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com.