After collecting clothes and clearing out UnitingCare’s Mount Pleasant warehouse, the retail co-ordinator was excited to host the event at the weekend. 

And the crowds came in droves, with hundreds snaring bargains within the first few hours of trading. 

“We’re selling everything from clothes, shoes, bags and scarves and even furniture,” Ms Kelly said. 

“One lucky person purchased some vintage nighties.” 

The Rummage Around the Rat event is Ballarat’s biggest garage sale.

The event invites locals to sell their pre-loved goods or to snare a bargain at garage sales held around town. 

Ms Kelly said her role as retail co-ordinator involved taking excess stock from UnitingCare’s three opportunity shops and delivering it to the storage warehouse. 

On Saturday, volunteers handed shoppers plastic bags, instructing to fill them with whatever they could for $5. 

By 10.30am, Ms Kelly had already seen “a couple of hundred” people walk through the door. 

“I take all the excess stock from the stalls (including the summer stock) and deliver it to our storage warehouse,” Ms Kelly said. 

The stock is then used in the Rummage Around the Rat event. 

Ms Kelly is the retail co-ordinator of Ballarat’s three UnitingCare Op Shops in Lydiard, Sheppard and Dana streets.