BRISTOL — The 29th annual Three Day Stampede Toward a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis, which finished up on Sunday, had raised more than $125,000 as of Monday. It will all be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
“What happens here (during) Stampede week is nothing short of miraculous,” said event founder and co-organizer Bonita Bedard in the organization’s press release.
The Stampede was founded in 1989 when David and Bonita Bedard’s granddaughter Kayla was born with cystic fibrosis, a chronic disease that affects the lungs and/or digestive system of more than 30,000 people in the United States alone.
Since then the annual three-day lawn sales and associated auctions, sponsorships, donations and fundraising events have raised more than $2 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, making it the largest grassroots fundraiser in the country, according to organizers.
This past weekend the Stampede was blessed with clear (though somewhat hot) weather. The high temps didn’t keep away those looking for bargains when the huge yard sale opened at the Bristol Recreation Fields on Friday at 8 a.m.
“There were over 200 people in line on Friday morning starting at 7 a.m. to get in on some of the best treasures,” Bedard said.
Over the course of that day, and into Saturday, volunteers steadily replenished the sale from more than five tractor-trailers’ worth of donations.
Those volunteers, who show up and work tirelessly all weekend to set up, work and tear down the event, are at the heart of the Stampede, organizers said.
Also essential to the enterprise are the event sponsors, equipment lenders, lawn-sale donors and shoppers, food donors, runners, walkers and silent-auction donors and bidders.
“This event happens because of this incredible community,” Bedard said. “It truly belongs to them.”
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