Minks to Sinks has its roots in the first rummage sale organized by volunteers in Wilton in 1931 to benefit the Nursing Association's Well Child Program. The name Minks to Sinks was coined in 1952, when a volunteer at a pre-rummage sale meeting brought along a mink coat to donate to the sale. Someone else had donated a sink, and another volunteer suggested that they name the sale, Minks to Sinks.
The name stuck, and to this day, the sale has always included at least one mink and more than a few sinks. The early rummage sales didn't have a permanent location. They were held at Town Hall, the Grange, the McFadden Building and the Wilton Playshop, among other locations in Wilton. Minks to Sinks was even held at the Gateway Shopping Plaza one year, while the shopping center was under construction. In the '60's the sale moved to the grounds of the Community Park, now the site of the Wilton YMCA. In 1971, Minks to Sinks found its permanent home, adjacent to the tennis courts at the intersection of Route #7 (Danbury Road) and School Road. The Minks to Sinks organization is staffed with over 160 volunteers of all ages from the community of Wilton. Many of these women have been giving their time for over thirty and forty years. During the semi-annual sales they work tirelessly to price, ticket, organize and display the thousands of items that are donated or consigned for the sale, often hauling heavy furniture, rugs, and lawn mowers to their designated locations under the tents or in the outdoor sale areas. These volunteers don the Minks to Sinks trademark red, white and blue ticking stripe aprons and work from morning to night for days before the sale starts, during the sale days, and cleaning up after the sale is over, no matter what the weather. During one Minks to Sinks event in the '70's, on a Friday before the sale opened, a mini-hurricane struck and tore open one of the tents. Torrential rain soaked all of the clothing that was neatly arranged inside. The tent rental company had to make an emergency repair to the tent. Dedicated volunteers took all of the wet clothes home, washed and dried them, returned them and arranged them in neat stacks on tables and on hanging racks under the repaired tent early the next day. The sale opened as scheduled that Saturday morning, but as fate would have it, the weather turned colder and it began to snow. But rain, or shine, scorching or freezing temperatures, the sale always goes on. Since 1958, Minks to Sinks has used the logo affectionately referred to as "Mrs. "Mrs. Sminks", created by Whitney Darrow, the noted New Yorker cartoonist, has been described as "the woman who has everything. She consigns it donates or buys it at the semi-annual Minks to Sinks sale".
