BLOOMINGTON - New moms, proud grandparents, service workers and budget-savvy university students stretched their dollars at a giant garage sale on Saturday. | Submit your penny-pinching idea

A bigger crowd examined thousands of items at 81 booths at The Pantagraph Garage Sale at the Interstate Center, said Terri Haerr, the newspaper's community services coordinator.

More than half of the expected 3,000 shoppers arrived in the first hour and a half, she said.

Larry and Claudia Hopelhorn of Bloomington came prepared to collect items for their grandchildren, loading coats, clothes, sand toys and trucks into a cart.

"It's mainly stay-at-home stuff," Claudia Hopelhorn said, explaining the couple wanted to buy items to amuse the children despite national economy woes.

"They (shoppers) are buying the basics this year," said Mary Jane Miller, a volunteer cashier at the West Twin Grove Christian Church booth. The booth sold a lot of shoes this year to help pay down a loan for the church's Sunday school addition.

Michele Clark of Carlock, a first-timer to the garage sale, said the economy (and two new grandsons) "definitely" encouraged her to hunt for bargains. She found a pack-and-play crib for $30 that likely would have cost $90, she said.

Ashely Etters, an Illinois State University elementary education student, found bargains to equip her apartment in Normal and her future career. The junior paid 25 cents for flash cards that would cost $6 or $7 elsewhere, along with books and puzzles.

Her mom, Julie Etters of Cary, helped carry her daughter's finds, which included a canvas and wooden shoe rack.

Kristi Bohn, who works for a hospice in Pontiac, bought items to give to her patients, such as wheelchair pads and bed rests. "It's like giving them a new arm or a leg to make them comfortable," she said.

She and her husband, Robin, paid $20 to Recycling Furniture for Families for all the goodies.