HANSVILLE — Aside from a slight disruption involving a squirrel and a hornets’ nest, last weekend’s Hansville Rummage Sale was a “blow out success,” said organizer Tony Atkinson.

More than $30,000 was brought in after the famous two-day sale finished on Sunday afternoon. All the proceeds will go into the Hansville Community Center’s general fund to pay for scholarships, building maintenance and programs.

But before the crowd could grab the excellent bargains, it had to deal with a pesky problem.

About 20 minutes before the sale opened and people were lining up at the starting line under a pine tree, a rambunctious squirrel knocked a pine cone onto a hornet’s nest, disrupting the insects inside. The hornets flew out into the crowd, stinging several but no one was seriously hurt, Atkinson said.

“It was a zoo out there,” he said.

But that didn’t seem to deter many from getting back in line and making this year’s sale one of the most successful in Hansville history.

Changes to the sale this year included putting more collectibles within each department and no pre-sales — both of which Atkinson said contributed to the event’s triumph.

“People found a lot more product out there,” he explained. “The first two hours of that sale was just a blow out. Wethe first three hours (on Saturday).”

While there were some growing pains with the new changes, Atkinson said it was still a pretty amazing event. The most popular items were antique furniture, followed by tools and boating equipment.

“It went pretty fast,” he said. “In particular, we had a large assortment of good antiques in need of refurbishing. If you looked closely at these antiques, they were pretty good … We had really good antique bargains for the discriminating shoppers.”

Atkinson noted that shoppers commented on the relaxed atmosphere of the sale, compared to other major area sales.

“It was more informal and more fun than the other large sales of its type in the area,” he said.