Once a year — starting with 2026 — households all across Elmhurst hold garage sales on the same weekend. The Elmhurst Citywide Garage Sale is a brand-new pilot program run by the City of Elmhurst, Illinois (DuPage County, about 20 miles west of downtown Chicago): residents register their address, the City publishes a Google My Map, and for the weekend the whole city turns into one coordinated sale. In 2026 it runs Saturday, October 3 through Sunday, October 4, generally 8 AM to dusk.
The first-year scale is notable: more than 400 households signed up for the City's official map, making this one of the largest single-city sales MapMySales tracks anywhere. That's a lot of ground to cover, and it's exactly why the map matters more than the list — hundreds of pins only turn into a workable Saturday once you read them by neighborhood instead of chasing addresses one at a time.
Quick facts
- Dates
- Saturday, October 3 – Sunday, October 4, 2026
- Hours
- Generally 8 AM to dusk
- Where
- Citywide across Elmhurst, IL (DuPage County)
- Format
- City-run pilot program; residents register an address for the official map
- Addresses
- 404 registered households this year
- Organizer
- City of Elmhurst
How the citywide garage sale works
The City of Elmhurst organizes the registration and the map, but the sales themselves are ordinary households clearing out garages, attics, and basements. Anyone who wants to be included registers their address with the City, and the full list goes onto an official Google My Map. That map is the actual product of the weekend — it's how shoppers find out where to go.
A map with 400-plus pins is powerful but genuinely hard to plan from by eye. That's the problem the map below solves: every registered address plotted, so you can build a sensible loop instead of criss-crossing Elmhurst all weekend. Browse the full list free, then map the smartest driving order and drive it.
Strategy — work Elmhurst in neighborhood blocks
At this scale, trying to visit every address in the order you spot them on the map is a losing plan. The shoppers who do best treat it like a series of small loops, not one long drive.
- Pick a neighborhood and clear it. With 400+ sales citywide, you will not hit all of them in a weekend — decide which part of Elmhurst you're working first and finish it before moving on.
- Start where the pins cluster. Dense blocks of registered addresses are worth more time than scattered one-offs on the edge of town.
- Go early Saturday. With hundreds of households participating for the first time, the best items at the most-visited sales tend to move fast on day one.
Four hundred addresses isn't a route — it's a map. Pick a corner of Elmhurst, work it tight, then move to the next cluster instead of chasing pins across town.
What you'll find
Elmhurst is a settled DuPage County suburb with a mix of older housing stock near downtown and newer family neighborhoods further out, so a first-year citywide sale at this scale brings out a wide range of household goods — furniture, kids' and baby gear, tools, kitchenware, and seasonal items as families clear out ahead of fall.
Because this is the City's first attempt at a coordinated citywide weekend, expect some sales to be larger multi-family affairs and others to be a single household's garage — the map doesn't distinguish, so plan to stop at a few extra pins near any dense cluster.
Pro tips
- Plan by neighborhood, not by pin count. At 400+ addresses you cannot see everything — pick a section of Elmhurst and commit to it.
- Go Saturday morning. The first day of a first-year event tends to have the deepest selection.
- Bring small bills. These are households, not shops — cash in small denominations keeps the line moving.
- Keep the map on your phone. With this many pins, having the live list in your pocket beats trying to remember addresses.
Map every sale across Elmhurst
We've mapped the full 2026 list — over 400 registered households across the city. Pick a neighborhood, start where the pins cluster, and build one efficient loop instead of crossing Elmhurst all weekend. Browse the full list free, then map the smartest driving order and drive it.
Open the Elmhurst Citywide Garage Sale 2026 MapFAQ
When is the Elmhurst Citywide Garage Sale 2026?
October 3–4, 2026, generally 8 AM to dusk. It's the City of Elmhurst's first citywide garage-sale pilot program.
Where do I find the map of participating addresses?
The City of Elmhurst publishes an official Google My Map of registered households, and every address on it is mapped on the MapMySales live event map — so you can plan a route around the sales nearest you.
How many households are taking part?
Over 400 households registered for the first year of the program — one of the largest single-city sales MapMySales tracks anywhere.
When does next year's Elmhurst Citywide Garage Sale happen?
The City is piloting this as an annual event. The 2027 dates will be confirmed by the City of Elmhurst closer to the date, and we'll update this page once they're posted.
Happy hunting, Elmhurst.