A
Bargain Hunter’s Delight
By
Bonita Wilborn
The 127 Yard Sale, commonly referred to as the world’s longest yard sale, certainly, a bargain hunter’s delight is coming to town again, on August 1-5. The event gained the nickname “World’s Longest Yard Sale” for a reason; it is the longest yard sale in the world.
To
be exact, it is 690 miles long, and the route travels through 6 states: Michigan,
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.
The majority of the route follows Highway 127 from Addison,
Michigan in the
north to Chattanooga, Tennessee in the south, from Lookout
Mountain, Georgia,
to Gadsden,
Alabama, to Lookout Mountain Parkway. Both
are scenic drives allowing you to appreciate the beautiful countryside of these
states all while enjoying the fun and excitement of The World’s Longest Yard
Sale.
The 127 Yard Sale
is an annual event, which takes place the first Thursday-Sunday in August each
year. This unique outdoor second-hand sale draws hundreds of thousands of
people (shoppers/vendors) each year from all around the country.
Fentress County, Tennessee, County
Executive Mike Walker originated the idea for the longest yard sale in 1987. When it began, the sale route followed
US 127 from Covington, Kentucky to Chattanooga, Tennessee. A few years after the event was established,
the Lookout
Mountain Parkway was added to the
route, extending it from Chattanooga southward
through northwestern Georgia and
northeastern Alabama to
Gadsden.
In 2006, the route was extended northward from Covington,
through Ohio to
the Michigan
border, making its last major stops around Bryan, Ohio, and points
northward.
Then in 2010, the sale was extended even farther northward to Hudson, Michigan. And in 2012, it was extended another five
miles north of Addison,
Michigan,
totaling an approximate end-to-end distance of 690 miles. Downtown Chattanooga is the only area along the yard
sale route that is currently not participating in the yard sale due to the high
volume of traffic.
The world’s longest yard sale might be
touted as the planet’s greatest gathering of antiques, knickknacks, baubles,
trinkets, bric-a-brac, curios, gadgets, rummage, and every other polite synonym
your nearest thesaurus can conjure for stuff.
Items
that have been found along the 690 mile path of the world’s longest yard sale,
in years past include, but are not limited to:
a toilet seat bedazzled in plastic
rhinestones, a bobblehead of Gandhi, hammer pants and pants covered with
pictures of hammers, a statue of McDonaldland’s Grimace, and posters of Burt
Reynolds. Cribs, bibs, tiny shoes, handmade jewelry, jars of marbles, belt
buckles shaped like cornhusks, and salt and pepper shakers of every variety
have been found. Add to the list nudist gnomes, rifles, military canteens,
clocks crafted from frying pans, a lamp made from ram’s feet, and even a used
CPAP machine. Also, customers have collected chinaware, the cracked shell of a
gutted pipe organ, Civil War novels, a toy figurine of a retired football
quarterback, broken fire hydrants, and splintered bowling pins. Other nostalgic
items found were tie-dye shirts, Bowie knives, cracked hubcaps, a
cymbal-banging monkey, Heineken-themed clogs, and a Clint Eastwood puzzle
missing half its piece. Some customers even scored oversized posters of babies
in bunny costumes, gas weed-whackers, and half a coconut shell. History buffs
found a yellowed newspaper dating back to the 1930s, rusted wagons, eyeless
dolls, a faded bumblebee costume, and a hand-drawn sign with time-tested
advice: “Pee not into the wind. Some other unusual items sold include melted
candles, board games, boxes of books, a small gourd painted to depict a wintry
scene, square dancing dresses, a brown
couch pocked with cigar holes because it stirs memories of a sour relationship,
fine china, and ceramic feline figurines.
There’s quite literally a buffet of quirky cultural artifacts to
add to your junk drawer or collection of treasures.
One
sign along the way reads: “Lots of Stuff
That Ain’t Worth Fixin.” But inevitably
someone will buy it.
Yard sales offer a voyeuristic glimpse into
other people’s lives. You can see their
failed hobbies, the fashion they discarded along the way, and even the
trajectory of their children’s development:
their first bicycles, the soccer pads, stinky high school band
uniforms. You can track an entire
life. Yard sales are unique
because the general public is invited onto private property not only to witness
these changes but to take part in them.
Many times, the most mundane belongings come attached with some story
or sentiment.
So whatever it is that you are looking for, chances are you can find it somewhere along the 690 path of the world’s longest yard sale. You might even find a multitude of things you didn’t know you wanted but discover that you simply can’t live without.
A Bargain Hunter’s Delight
