They hosted a potluck dinner, downtown parade and fashion show in a last-ditch effort to keep their vision for the residence off Greensboro Street alive.

The 10.5 acres -- mostly wooded, within walking distance of downtown -- could provide a community garden, a public greenway and a public amphitheater, the residents say.

The circa 1912 brick home could be a center for community and sustainability, with conferences and demonstrations of sustainable technologies.

But the Carrboro Greenspace Collective, as the renters and their supporters call themselves, has not yet found a buyer who can meet the $1.4 million asking price.

They hoped that raising awareness about the property Saturday would do that.

Waving large, colorful depictions of a butterfly, dragonfly and sun on sticks, nearly 50 people paraded to a drum beat from the rental home to dance on the Weaver Street Market lawn Saturday evening. Some wore green arm bands. Others carried banners that read "Save the Carrboro Greenspace" and "For the commons: not landlords or bureaucracy."

Tamara Tal, a member of the collective, passed out orange information sheets. She envisions the space to be one where people can share ideas and food without the regulations that many town public properties now have.

"There has to come a time in society when we start valuing the community," she said, "the safety community brings, and the public health having greenspace brings."

The owners, April Morris and Carolann Stoney of Pomono, Calif., have asked the renters to move out today to give them a chance to fix up the house for sale.

Stoney, who was reached by phone Saturday, said there is no buyer yet and no bad feelings against the renters.

"I understand their hearts are in the right place to buy the right property," she said.

She also said she has no preference for the property's future use.

"I think it would be a wonderful place for a lot of community things," Stoney said. "Our only hesitation is, we own the property, and we need to sell it."

Renters Michal Osterweil and Sammy Slade say they have the best interest of the town in mind in seeking a buyer. "This is one of the biggest, largest green spaces in Carrboro," Slade said.

With other members of the collective, they have developed their vision for the place over about a year, roughly as long as it has been on the market.

Osterweil said creating the non-profit organization and business plan has been sped up by the pressure of having the house listed. "We thought we could prove the idea and then ask ... [the owners] to sell it [to us]," she said.

On Saturday they highlighted the land's features, including a tributary to Morgan Creek and the old Sparrow Pool, which was a community pool from the 1930s to 1960. They have used the latter as an outdoor amphitheater space, where people sit on the pool's old white walls to view a film on a painted white tarp suspended over the grassy bottom of the old deep end.

Mary Bratsch has visited the residence several times to get her fill of "green," she said. "I think this place is too beautiful to turn into condos, which I think is a fear."

Although she knew the land was privately held, Bratsch said the current renters were able to make her feel like she had something at stake in the property.

"I feel like we all have a complex relationship with private property," she said. "I think we're all idealistic and feel like -- not that it shouldn't exist -- but that it should be shared," Bratsch said.

Gisele Long and her husband Luis Reveles take frequent walks with their two young children through the woods.

"There's really no other place in town where there's a forest," said Long, whose family lives up the road in a townhouse community.

On Saturday, they joined the end of the parade, carrying a group of "clouds" on a stick.

"It will be hard to explain to our children, 'No you can't go see the swimming pool; the goats are gone; the chickens are gone.' "

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