CARTHAGE — The Carthage Historical Society is hosting a bake sale and lawn sale from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, at the Carthage Historical Society Museum to raise money for its scholarship committee and for renovations to the building, member Fay Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said that, to her knowledge, the Carthage Historical Society has never done something like this before. “We’ve done annual suppers for the community, but we decided against doing it this time,” she said.

A declining number of members was the primary reason for hosting a bake sale and lawn sale in lieu of a dinner, Hutchinson said.

“It just takes a lot of people to do something like a dinner, and our membership is down,” she said. “I’m sure that we’ll probably find that lawn sales and bake sales take a lot of people to run, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

She said townspeople are welcome to donate food to the bake sale or belongings to the lawn sale, as long as the lawn sale items “are things that we’d be able to sell. We’ll take anything that’s good and usable. We just don’t want a bunch of stuff that won’t sell. We’re only a few members right now, so to get rid of a bunch of things that didn’t sell after the lawn sale would be another burden.”

The bake sale will feature an assortment of baked goods, including homemade bread, pies, fudge and baked beans.

Later in the afternoon, Hutchinson said, the Historical Society will raffle off a 3- by 5-foot braided rug she made.

“I usually just make rugs as gifts to give to family and friends,” Hutchinson said. “This is the first time I’ve done one for a raffle.”

All proceeds at the bake sale and lawn sale will go toward raising funds for the historical society’s scholarship committee, which provides scholarship funds to Carthage students.

Hutchinson said the scholarship committee has long been a staple of the Carthage Historical Society, and that funds would be given to students after they complete their first semester of college.

Anyone wishing to donate items to the lawn sale or bake sale or to purchase a ticket for the rug raffle can do so by contacting Hutchinson at 562-7337 or Nancy at 562-7762.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com