It was shortly before 9 a.m. and Ali Kelling had already shopped till she dropped — the 3-year-old girl was sound asleep in her stroller in downtown Lawrence.

“It’s a good week to come to Lawrence to get some good buys,” said Ali’s big brother, Michael Kelling, 19, who was watching over her in the 700 block of Massachusetts Street, just south of the Eldridge Hotel.

The two were with five other family members who had driven in from Kansas City, Kan., and spent the night at the Lawrence Holidome to get an early start on the 33rd Annual Downtown Lawrence Sidewalk Sale.

Bryan Funk and his girlfriend Abby Golinvaux look over a selection of T-shirts during the Lawrence Sidewalk Sale Thursday morning.

The sale goes from dawn to dusk today in the city’s historic downtown, drawing thousands of people from the region.

Michael Kelling said his family had hoped to beat the crowd and had been downtown since 7 a.m., mostly seeking clothes for school.

“We should have got here at 5:45 a.m., when everybody opened at sunrise,” he said, pushing his sleeping sister down the shady sidewalk.

“We got started setting up at 5:30, we were ready to go by 6 and by 6:15 we were ringing people up pretty steadily,” said Jon Francis, owner of Francis Sporting Goods Inc., 731 Mass. “By 7 o’clock we had lines.”

Francis said shoppers seemed to be most interested in the Francis T-shirts.

“The hot item is definitely the T-shirt,” he said. “We always sell about 800.”

Francis stood under a shade tree, next to Keith Cobb, a Francis salesman who was perched atop an aluminum step ladder.

“I’m overseeing and making sure we don’t have any shoplifters,” Cobb said.

Francis also said the weather was working in favor of the shoppers and the shopkeepers.

“It’s perfect,” he said. “This morning was nice and cool and not too humid. . . . I think this is the nicest we’ve had in a long time.”

Earl Reineman, vice president of Weaver’s, 901 Mass., said they began their sale at 6 a.m. and that shoppers were buying lots of towels, bedding, women’s shoes and men’s shirts.

“The weather is great,” he said. “It couldn’t be better. Last year it was 103. This year it looks like it’s going to be in the mid 80s. We hope the moderate temperatures will sustain the traffic through the afternoon and evening.”

Two early-bird shoppers were Caitlin Fisher, a South Junior High student, and Samantha Schueler, a Southwest Junior High student.

“It’s fun. We’ve been here since around 7:20-ish,” Fisher said. “I bought a necklace. We’re just out here looking.”

Nearby, Shenna Engleman, a sales associate at the GAP, was standing in the sun, a line of shoppers reflecting from her sunglasses.

“I got here at 6 o’clock in the morning and people were already shopping,” said Engleman, a Kansas University senior from Chicago. “I had no idea Lawrence residents were such fanatics about it.”

About 9:25 a.m., several people were rummaging through boxes of CDs and tapes at Kief’s Downtown Music, 823 Mass.

Downtown retailers gear up for annual sidewalk sale (7-14-04)

“We were probably a little later (getting open) than some. We started about 7:30, said Steve Wilson, Kief’s manager. “We’ve seen a lot of lookers and a lot of brisk sales on the outside.”

Wilson said he had also been selling a lot of T-shirts, a lot of posters, CDs and cassettes.

Nearby, Abby Schartz, a senior at Lawrence High School, was standing near tables of jewelry in front of Kizer Cummings Jewelers, 833 Mass.

“I’m shopping for all the cheap clothes,” said Schwartz, who was just getting started and was running into lots of friends.

“This is my first one I’ve ever been to,” Schwartz said. “It’s kind of exciting.”

Megan King took a break from selling at the Lawrence Sidewalk Sale Thursday morning to look over some shoes on racks in the 800 block of Massachusetts.

Wearing a pair of sunglasses and a straw hat, Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway was carrying a bag and trying to keep up with his grandson, and his wife, Leah.

Hemenway laughed as he corralled his grandson, Dylan Ruskamp, 8, who had a Rice Krispie treat in one hand and a red snow cone in the other.

“I’m basically accomplishing being a contributor to the city of Lawrence’s economy — and we’re buying every spare piece of food we can see,” Hemenway said, laughing.

He said the sidewalk sale is another unique activity special to Lawrence.

“It gives you a sense of where you belong,” he said, “and how great it is to live in Lawrence.”

For more on this story, see 6News at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband channel 6.