Northampton Parents Center Tag Sale fundraiser to take place June 13

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Parents Center Tag Sale fundraiser is back for another round on Saturday, June 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the front lawn of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence.

This year, the Parents Center is celebrating its 40th year of supporting community parents and families, and the annual tag sale is one of the oldest and biggest fundraising events spearheaded by the organization.

The Northampton Parents Center is a nonprofit cooperative drop-in center for children, birth to kindergarten age, and their caregivers. Since 1986, the center has prided itself on being a community space that provides a safe, nurturing environment for families with young children to socialize. Free daily drop-in playgroups are Monday through Thursday, 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the lower level of Edwards Church.

Northampton Parents Center Executive Director Lindsey Kind started with the center as a program assistant in 2023 before taking on her current role in 2025. She told Reminder Publishing that the tag sale has been one of the center’s original fundraisers and has always served as an effective annual connector between the organization and the community at large.

“It’s been happening for many years, and the folks who started Northampton Parents Center were a group of parents and grandparents who came together, and they wanted to try and find a space where they could raise kids in the community and find connection,” Kind said. “It’s just been this tradition, and it’s such a wonderful community event.”

Gently, clean and good-conditioned used items, toys, books and more will be available at a pay-for-what-you-want rate with 100% of proceeds going to support the center’s free programming. King said they will collect donations until the first week of June, and people can email npctagsale@gmail.com for info regarding donation drop-off guidelines or to volunteer.

“It’s not a tag sale with just kids’ stuff; it has small household items, adult clothes, shoes, bikes, the full range. And so, we collect donations from the community throughout the month of May, and when we have the tag sale, we don’t price anything, so it’s all by donation. People can take what they need and pay what they can, and all the money that’s raised goes right back into the parent center so we can continue to offer all of the play groups, workshops and things are offered at no cost to families,” King added.

The event has no rain date, but tents will be set up in the case of inclement weather.

King said the event is always a good reminder for the public about the community within the Parents Center and how the organization has been a reliable support for families and young children for four decades.

“The phrase it takes a village, you get to really see that happening in real time at our playgroups, and I think there’s something really meaningful about a free drop-in play group. There’s no such thing as late; you do not have to register, you don’t have to pay. You can just completely show up as you are, and the community is just so important. Because the Parents Center has been around for almost 40 years, the village has such a far-and-wide reach. It’s multi-generational. There are grandparents who come to play groups with their grandkid, and that same grandparent used to come 25 years ago with their kid,” said King. “That gives me goosebumps pretty much every time. It is a village, and I think we’re really, really fortunate to have a space like the Parents Center. It’s not something that exists everywhere, and it’s a special place. The village is far and wide.”
In an effort to secure more sustainable funding for the Parents Center and its work, the organization has begun a Friends of NPC monthly donor program offering a few different tiers of monthly donations starting at $5 that the public can sign up for. The monthly donation will help provide the sustainable funding needed for the organization, and the first 50 Friends will receive an NPC tote bag.

King said she hopes to see a great turnout for another year of the Northampton Parents Center tag sale. She added that the event is always a great example of the community stepping up in support of the organization.

“I think the tag sale is such a great example of that, where you do get to see the support from more of the community at large and families that used to come to the Parents Center that come back to support the tag sale, or people already asking to volunteer, whether they’re really active at play group or not. The tag sale is sort of this flagship fundraiser,” King said. “I love that we were right downtown for the tag sale, so you get to interact with members of the community, and it’s great visibility too. People who aren’t familiar with the Parents Center come to the tag sale, and we just get to let them know who we are and what we do. I love the tag sale for that reason. To just sort of have that visibility in the community and just see people show up. The Parents Center is bigger than all of us, I think, because it’s been around for so long and it’s a lifeline for young families and parents.”

For more information on how to sign up for the Friends of NPC, or to learn more about the organization in general, visit www.northamptonparentscenter.org.