I'm preparing for the "World's Longest Yard Sale" (Hwy 127- OH/KY/TN/AL)!

[hopeky94]

The Highway 127 Yard Sale event is now 640 miles long, from Defiance, Ohio to Gadsden, Alabama. This year's dates "officially" are August 7 - 10, but some will actually start this weekend and continue all the way thru to the 10th!

I've lost count of how many years my mom and I have set up as part of this (in central KY), but this will be my second year selling stockpile items!! And the nice thing is, no one else in the big field where we set up sells new (not outdated, beat up, or dirty) HBA products! I still stop by those other ones (usually where someone has bought out the leftovers from a store closing), but now I can afford to be very picky about what I buy from them, knowing that I can get sooo much of that stuff, brand new, for free!

But of course there's all kinds of other stuff to look at-- a lot of antiques and collectibles, which is especially great for folks trying to find certain pieces to match something they already have... always some neat wookworking stuff, from log furniture to customized signs... and always some (like my mom) who are having "true" yard sales, trying to get rid of good stuff they don't want anymore! Then between the yard sales, there's some really beautiful countryside (of course I'm not biased LOL) and lots of interesting little towns to check out-- stuff you'd never see if you just whizzed thru on the interstates!

HGTV is going to re-show their special from last year's sales, next Friday (August 8) at 4 pm. If you have a chance to watch it: the wacky bicycle-lawnmower was there at the field where I was set up, and the booth where the ladies are looking at and buying jewelry was almost straight across from me! I didn't get there that day until they were almost done taping, just in time to see them taping the guy riding the crazy bicycle contraption down the aisle, stopping about 2 booths up from mine! LOL

Something new I found today on Alabama's website about it that may interest some of you:

HGTV is Looking for Outgoing Yard Sale Shoppers and Vendors!

HGTV's Endless Yard Sale will be back shooting this year's special with hosts Steven Lee and Elyse Luray, and we're looking for fun, energetic shoppers on a mission, and the most colorful vendors the South has to offer. If you'll be shopping 'til you drop between Frankfort, Ky., and Gadsden, Al., on Friday, Aug. 8 and Saturday, Aug. 9, and you have enough personality to share with the nation, e-mail us with details of your mission and what you love about the "World's Longest Yard Sale"! Please include a photo of yourself. Also, if you're a vendor in the same location and you would like us to check out your tent, show us what you’re selling and tell us why you love the event. Please include a photo of yourself and photos of the items you'll have for sale.
If you're a shopper or a vendor interested in participating, please include the information requested above in an e-mail and send it to mmcdonald@highnoonentertainment.com

Anyway, I just want to invite everyone here to come join in on the fun, either as a shopper or a vendor. Definitely check out the official website (linked at the top of this post) for tips on lodging and other things to do, if you've never been before... and if you're gonna be in the central Kentucky area, either let me know and I'll describe where I'll be, or watch for a booth with brand-new HBA stuff (plus other stuff, mainly my mom's) in a big field and casually mention HCW!

And if anyone has memories of past 127 yard sales and/or questions about it that aren't answered on the website, feel free to share or ask away!!

[shetlandponyluvr]

Awesome!! It's even farther north now in Ohio, all the way up to West Unity!! Woohoo! I might actually go check it out this year!

[vickib50]

I live in Chattanooga and Signal Mtn is just a couple miles from here on Hwy 127. It's funny; some people come all the way from California to do the yard sale and those of us who live in the middle of it avoid it like the plague!

I might have to encourage my dad to take his fresh produce up to Signal Mtn and set up his trailer on the side of the road. Okra, tomatoes, bell peppers, I don't know what else. I try to stay out of his garden so that I am not put to work!

[hopeky94]

Oooo, yeah-- fresh veggies sell REALLY well out there! There's so many folks who're used to only store-bought produce, but when they find out how much better homegrown stuff is, they buy lots of it!!

Yeah, it is kinda funny how far people will travel to get to the sales, then how far out of their way the local folks travel to avoid them (around here, mainly because of the crazy drivers)! LOL But actually that's another thing I love about it: meeting so many different people from all over the country! And hearing lots of interesting stories about their travels or things where they live... I think one of these years, I'm gonna get a big map of the US and pin it to a bulletin board, then ask people to draw a dot or stick a pin in the map to show where they're from!

Does anyone else on here set up a booth during this sale? If so, please share!

[hopeky94]

Oh, and Vicki-- if he goes, tell your dad to offer samples of his tomatoes and any other fruit or veggie that folks like to eat raw... At a farmer's market here, an orchard does that every week with their apples, and it draws in TONS of buying customers!

[jebaraba]

We usually go to the yard sale via Scottsboro, AL and go down to Gadsen, but I think we're going to pass this year. Last year it was over 100 degrees and we liked to have roasted. Took a lot of the fun out of digging around for bargains! It looks like it may be at or near 100's again this year. One year we headed up to Chattanooga but I've never been further north for the yard sale than there! Hope you sell lots of goodies. If we were nearer to KY, we would definitely look you up!


UPDATE: Weather change here! Looks like it's going to be 90 instead of 100!!! We're going yardsaling tomorrow!