Knockout Carpet to hold remnant sale to benefit GM girls softball

Knockout Carpet of Chester will be holding its 20th annual remnant sale at its store, 647 Main St., from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday Aug. 24, with proceeds this year going to benefit Green Mountain Varsity Girls softball team.

There will be giveaways and raffles and hot dogs and drinks. Some remnants for sale will be as large as 9 feet by 12 feet.

Twenty years ago, Tom and Debbie Knockenhauer set up their carpet and flooring store in Chester and have been holding these remnant sales yearly to help worthy causes including the Chester Fire Department, the Cub and Boy Scouts of America, the Chester-Andover Family Center and Little League teams.

This year’s beneficiary, the GM girls softball team, hopes to use the money for a spring softball tournament in Massachusetts.

Tom Knockenhauer said that because Vermont winters can be so harsh, teams aren’t able to get outside to practice till late spring, at times two to four games into a season. He added that Hurricane Irene decimated the fields, which weren’t ready for play till this past May.

The team practiced everywhere it could, he added, “from parking lots to gym floors, Little League fields …” yet it managed to get to the semi- and quarter finals of the Vermont State Softball Championships. “These girls play practice under the worst conditions, and this would be special for them,” Knockenhauer adds.

For more information, go to www.knockoutcarpet.com.