By Clara Glendale | Beacon sale reporter

While the nation celebrated Memorial Day last Monday, May 25, the Bass Lake Sidewalk Merchants were polishing up their wares and preparing for their own, more traditional take on the yearly unofficial kick-off to a summer filled with ribbons galore and chicken accessories too numerous to mention.

“Memorial Day is May 30. Period. End of discussion.”

That’s what Cooper Sanderstroms was mumbling as he carried coops and incubators and whimsical poultry decor out to the crumbling sidewalk in front of his Trout Lane shop in the pre-dawn gloom.

Sanderstoms, who owns Cooper’s Coops and Chicken Accessories, has teamed with fellow Trout Lane merchants Larry Karen and Jennifer Sparkle to host a Memorial Day Sale nearly a full week after the hoopla and tuba parades that have come to mark the observed holiday.

“I stand with the VFW on this one,” Sanderstroms said. “You can keep your three-day weekend.”

To celebrate the day, Karen, of Karen’s Ribbon and Scissors, has tied a yellow rainbow of ribbons on the remaining trees and lamposts on Trout Lane while Sparkle, of Jen’s Ribbon Cutting, has set up a mock ribbon cutting to commemorate the sale.

“We’re just going along with Cooper on this one,” Sparkle said. “He’s been under a lot of stress because of this sidewalk situation.“

While no date has been set to begin or conclude the ongoing sidewalk destruction/replacement cycle, it’s clear to this reporter that no one uptown seems overly concerned. No one, save Copper Sanderstroms.

“People looking to buy new egg turners just turn themselves right around when they see that pile of concrete out there,” he said, pointing to a pile of concrete in front of his shop. “I’ve got chicks in back that are starting to crow they’ve been here so long. I’m hard-boilin’ mad.”

The Memorial Day (Traditional) Sidewalk Sale extends through today.