Area residents can purchase rain barrels at Bass Lake Park this Saturday morning, April 12, for the Town of Holly Springs' biggest, and probably last, rain barrel sale this year.

The sale starts at 8 a.m. for Holly Springs residents and opens to everyone at 9 a.m. Town residents can preorder, then pay at Bass Lake this Saturday morning before 11.

Recent rains have enabled Holly Springs and other towns to ease watering restrictions. But homeowners should remember how much in demand the barrels were during the Town's previous sales between mid-February and mid-March.

Since Saturday's sale is likely the last of 2008, homeowners should plan ahead in case the wet spring gives away to an unusually dry summer and watering restrictions return.

Several hundred rain barrels, mostly the 80-gallon size, are being trucked to Bass Lake for sale on Saturday. At the March 15 sale, some customers went home empty-handed. This time, the Town will have a larger supply of barrels. The sale will continue while supplies last, but the barrels may be gone by 11 a.m., possibly even earlier.

The cost is $90 for an 80-gallon barrel and $78 for a 60-gallon one. The limit is two barrels per person. Home delivery is not available.

The barrels come with a brass spigot, two overflow valves that could be used to connect additional barrels, and a screen to keep out debris and insects.

A mere quarter inch of rainfall provides enough runoff from the average roof to fill a typical rain barrel.

The barrels provide a way for residents to sustain landscaping when watering restrictions are in place. Even without restrictions, rain barrels enable residents to save on water purchases while conserving more of the public water supply for drinking and other essential purposes.

For more information on the rain barrel sale, call Daniel Weeks at (919) 557-2924.