Thrift shoppers woke bright and early to take advantage of great bargains all while helping make our community thrive at the Blue & Gold Mine Sale at Milan Puskar Stadium on May 16, 2026.
For 21 years, United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties partners with WVU’s Office of Sustainability to coordinate the Blue and Gold Mine Sale during WVU graduation weekend. Items are collected from students, residents, and community yard sales, helping ensure that usable goods are kept out of the landfill and made available at affordable prices.
The early bird sale began at 7:00 a.m. with a $5 admission. Then from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon, admission was free for shoppers. Later in the afternoon, the sale wrapped up with every item priced for $1.00 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. 245 shoppers took advantage of the bag sale, where you could purchase a canvas bag for $25 and stuff it with as many items as possible. Everything that fit in the bag was yours. There were a total of 700 shoppers that took advantage of the early bird sale.
The Blue & Gold Mine Sale raised a total of $23,600. Proceeds from the sale benefit the WVU United Way Campaign, which helps support 31 programs at 24 local agencies, as well as internal United Way programs such as the Helpful Harvest Food Program, WV211, the United Way Family Resource Network, and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.