[caption id="attachment_578" align="alignright" width="423" caption="The line forms for Friday Night's first shot at the used goods at Alpine Shop's Spring Swap."][/caption] Now in its seventeenth year, Alpine Shop’s Spring Swap Festival gives area families an opportunity to sell their used outdoor gear while also helping the store provide tens of thousands of dollars to worthwhile organizations. Alpine Shop’s 17^th Annual Spring Swap Festival begins Friday, April 8 at 7 pm at our Kirkwood and Columbia locations and continues through Sunday, April 10. Customers can begin bringing their used gear to sell on Wednesday, April 6 to those locations only. The Spring Swap Festival is a consignment-based sale the Alpine Shop hosts each April. Anyone is invited to bring in used warm-weather outdoor gear or clothing to sell for two and a half days in a 10,000 square foot tent in the South parking lot of our Kirkwood location. Alpine Shop’s Columbia location will also feature used gear, as well. The first night of the Swap festival is also the main fundraising effort of the weekend. Everyone 13 years or older pays $5 to get into the tent. Every penny of that money goes to a particular charity. This year that organization is Trailnet – a St. Louis-based not-for-profit organization with a 20-year history of promoting active living, a way of life that encourages people to integrate physical activity into their daily routines. Alpine Shop is proud to assist them in their efforts. Customers bring in an average of over 2,000 total items to the Swap tent each Spring Swap Festival, with an emphasis on bikes, boats, camping gear and warm-weather clothing for the whole family. Items that find new homes during Swap not only make some extra money for the seller, but also help save gear from our trash dumps. Even items that don’t sell can make a difference. Participants can mark on their consignment contracts that they would like Alpine Shop to donate the gear to the charity of Alpine Shop’s choosing if the item doesn’t sell. For more information on specific times and Swap rules, please visit alpineshop.com. Here's a sneak peek at what's going on inside the tent...