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Hordes make a run at the racks Photo by Jim Craven Dylan Drake of Ashland finds a cloak to her liking at the annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival jumble sale Saturday. The sale continues at the Old Armory today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. To shop, perchance to find a bargain draws hundreds to Ashland sale ASHLAND -- A medieval plunderer couldn't have pulled off a better sacking. Hordes of bargain hunters swarmed the Ashland Armory like Huns on Saturday morning, foraging for castoff Oregon Shakespeare Festival costumes and odds and ends jettisoned by soon-to-be-departing cast members. "It's brutal," Ashland's Roberta Hudson said in the midst of the scramble. There was no violence but plenty of jostling for jetsam at the OSF's annual jumble sale, which organizers expected to bring in $8,000 to $10,000. Betsy Ross, who coordinated the sale, said it allows OSF to sell costumes too unique to be used again and the actors to shed unwanted baggage. "Actors are traditionally sort of gypsy-like and this helps lighten there load," she said, "and we can clear out some costume space." The Armory is several times bigger than the OSF's Great Hall, which traditionally houses the sale. The extra space meant more merchandise and more shoppers. The line began to form around 9 a.m. -- an hour before the doors opened. "You find everything from boots to Levi's to bikes," said Evon Webster, who drove from Merlin with her mother and daughter to be one of the first in line. Fifteen minutes before 10 o'clock, the line had swelled to well over a hundred and stretched around the corner. When the doors opened, the race to the racks was on. Within minutes, it seemed every hanger had be lifted, every garment touched. The stragglers, though just minutes late to the sale, walked with urgency to make up lost time. Six minutes in, the first sale was complete. Ashland's Alice Finley left with a green glass candy dish and lid, purchasing just one item as she's done for eight years. "I don't have a lot of covered dishes" was the only explanation she offered for her speedy selection. Most were far, far less focused. "Everybody is grabbing everything," said jumble sale virgin Michael Garden of Ashland. "Anything that looked halfway decent you grab and try it on later." Garden tried on a white-and-tan outfit, debating whether it was better suited to be a Halloween costume for Julius Caesar or Jesus. "A Middle Eastern something," said Diane Parry of Medford, Garden's companion. "We grabbed this thing and we can't figure out what it is," Garden said of a green-and-tan garment. Hoard now, sort later was standard operating procedure as shoppers piled potential purchases before rivals could spirit them away. Some, like the Hudson family, formed hasty plans of attack. Flanked by her parents, 16-year-old Brielle Hudson headed straight for the back as soon as the doors opened. She scoured the racks, handing possibilities to her father who ferried them by the armload to a pile her mother was tending. "We are just grabbing everything we might want," the Ashland High junior said. "It was really chaotic; people were running." Like any epic struggle, there were victories and defeats. "There was this one thing I wanted and a lady grabbed it right out of my hand," said Dylan Drake of Ashland, lamenting a green cloak that could have been hers. Drake contented herself with an assortment of military-style clothes, including an $8 full-length brown cloak and a $5 thick wool jacket. Holly Hollister and Lisa Mack, both of Ashland, came away with three slinky dresses that will serve as showgirl costumes for Halloween. At $35 each, the dresses cost about as much it would to rent them, Mack said. They got three in hopes of finding two that are flattering. "They are very risky, so they need to fit right," said Mack. Hollister held up a backless blue number featuring a bare midriff and said, "Not a lot of coverage." Even after the initial scramble, there were subtle bursts of ruthless shopping. Mack had a dress folded over her arm when another woman made a grab at it. "They are savages," Hollister said. "We definitely wouldn't survive in this environment." Mail Tribune Copyright � interRogue & The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA