I thought I would kick off my blog by sharing my annual adventure on the 127 Corridor Longest Yard Sale. If you are a fellow junk-lover, or you just like to frequent the local yard sales, and you have never experienced this phenomenon, you must add it to your bucket list! This annual event takes place on the first Thursday-Sunday of August along US Route 127. The headquarters for the sale is located in Jamestown, Tennessee at the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce. Beginning in 1987, it was the brainchild of Fentress County Executive Mike Walker as a means of getting people to venture off of the interstates and back onto the country roads that make their way through small towns and along some beautifully scenic countryside. This annual event has vastly grown in both size and popularity. The original route in 1987 went from Covington, Kentucky to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Today, the sale stretches 690 miles from Addison, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama. The 127 sale has been featured on the HGTV channel for a number of years and attracts people from all over the US and abroad. This past summer marked my eighth year of participation in this amazing event. I have been as far south as Crossville, Tennessee, but would love to one day venture even further south. Each year, I usually have one person join me on the sale (saving the rest of the space in my minivan for hauling). I am fortunate to live outside of Cincinnati, so it’s not far for me to hop on to US 127 and head either north or south. For my first several years, I only headed south, where I had heard the pickings were greater. Unfortunately, because of HGTV, and the increase in DIY-ers and pickers, more and more vendors who sell their goods as a business have caught on to this trend. I have seen prices soar on items that were previously viewed as just “junk” and sold for peanuts. Therefore, I now make it a point to venture up north in Ohio, where the popularity is not quite as great. So on August 8th (during some very hot and muggy summer weather), I met up with my long-time friend, Sheila, who has joined me on some previous yard sale adventures. We headed up north very early in the morning with a goal of hitting as many sales as possible from Celina to Van Wert (a distance of just over 20 miles). Celina is one of my favorite places to shop for bargains. I always end up spending several hours there and leave with a lot of interesting treasures. It is a quaint little town, located right by a large scenic lake. Its main street is lined with old and beautifully maintained houses. Our starting point for shopping was at a local park located right along the lake’s shore. There are a good number of vendors who set up their wares each year. My favorite vendor always has lots of rusty, dirty tools, parts, farming equipment, architectural elements – you name it! (This is why I bring along work gloves.) Since I have bought quite a few items from him over the last several years, he looks for me and will usually give me a good deal. This year, I bought three very old and very rusty bike fenders from him for $2.00, along with lots of other rusty goodies. I have a few ideas in mind for them, and plan to one day share their transformation with you. After pulling ourselves away from Celina, we hit the road again and tried our best to limit our stops to those that looked really promising (based only on a quick glance and a hunch), otherwise we would never be able to reach Van Wert by the end of the day. We made a few more stops before hitting our other favorite place up north. It is recognized by a yellow sign out front that says, “Cool Crap.” Cool doesn’t even begin to describe it. This place is a gold mine for junk collectors like me! The property owner acquires stuff throughout the year solely to sell at this annual event. I have found a large number of treasures here, and have passed up some really great treasures as well because of a lack of storage space. My garage is crammed so full of future projects, works-in-progress,and other treasures just waiting for my creative juices to put them to use, that it looks like some sort of furniture Jenga game! This year, I snatched up some large pieces of tin roofing to use in several of the items I make to sell. By the end of Thursday, my friend and I had finally made it to Van Wert. Sadly, we weren’t able to find many places to shop there since a section of Route 127 was closed for construction. But we did manage to find great deals on some small items at the Senior Citizen Center. My friend bought an entire set of glass dishes for $8.00 - the last big score for the day! Very early Friday morning, I picked up my sister, Debbie, to join me on my journey south. This was her first time for the 127 sale, and she had no idea what she was in for! We traveled the interstate highways to our starting point, near the town of Pall Mall, Tennessee, at the Alvin C. York State Park. This place is always jam-packed with vendors, but you have to do some serious hunting and haggling in order to score some great deals. Heading north, we made a few more stops in Pall Mall, where I found four nice beefy oak table legs for only $10.00. We listened to some stories from a man there whose family had owned the general store located in Forbus, which happened to be one of our next stops. The general store that we had just heard about is located near the Tennessee/Kentucky state line. There are usually some vendors set up outside around the store. This has been a hit-or-miss location for me in regards to big bargains. My favorite purchases this year were food items, including homemade fudge, canned cinnamon pickles (tasted nothing like pickles), and friendship bread. Our next and final stop for the day was near Albany, Kentucky. There are a good number of vendors each year, some selling more high-end antiques. There was a vendor who remembered me previously rummaging through his dirty, rusty junk. He had a plethora of small rusty treasures laid out on a flatbed (commonly used at the yard sales)! He gave me a good price for being a return buyer and for purchasing a large quantity. What really makes this a must-stop location is the delicious pulled pork barbecue! The portions are quite large, so you need to be good and hungry to really enjoy it. My sister and I discovered a new way to eat the pulled pork – out of a cup. It’s a great alternative if you don’t like getting messy, or don’t want the carbs from a bun. After eating, we ventured on foot to some yard sales along the road, until the winds kicked up and the sky grew dark. There had been some bad storms the day before, and most vendors wanted to close up to protect their merchandise. Since it was getting late in the day and rain was beginning to fall, our next stop was the motel, which was located just outside of Nicholasville, KY. (Motel rooms are in high demand during the sale, so it’s best to book well in advance.) Somehow, we managed to miss a turn and found ourselves going in the wrong direction (a first for me), so we didn’t arrive at the motel until late. We were exhausted! After a good night’s rest, we had some breakfast and some much needed coffee at the motel. We enjoyed sharing some stories with two lovely couples who were also hitting the yard sales. We ended up bumping into those same people several times later in the day! With our bellies full, we headed back to Route 127 and continued our journey north. Our first stop of the day was at the Agricultural Center in Liberty, KY. The majority of vendors are located inside (out of the hot sun). This is another place where you have to work a little harder to score the great bargains. There are, however, lots of nice antique and vintage items to see. Outdoors, in and around the horse stalls, are more vendors and some better bargains. I found a pipe bender for $10.00 (doesn’t everyone need this?), and we both bought some yummy home-canned cherry pie filling from a very friendly older couple. From Liberty, we unknowingly turned the wrong way and headed back south, which did enable us to stop in Dunnville, where an Amish community participates in the yard sale each year. The Amish make some really tasty fried pies, so of course we had to partake. We tried to pace ourselves since there were lots of other tasty treats, such as homemade ice cream (churned by horse-power), soft pretzels, and doughnuts. We ate some ice cream and split a glazed doughnut, which tasted like it came from heaven (truly the best doughnut I’ve ever tasted!). After sampling some canned garlic sweet pickles, we each bought a jar to take home and bought some fresh produce. I found a very old and rare handmade doll made from a walnut and sticks. Leaving Dunnville, we continued heading south (unknowingly) until we saw some signs for Russel Springs and finally realized we were going the wrong way! (It appears that my sister and I get a little distracted when we're together and talking.) Since we really wanted to get to Danville and then to Lawrenceburg, we quickly turned around and headed back up north, bypassing all other sales (and all those potential treasures!) until we finally reached Danville. We stopped on the south side of town, where some houses are usually set up to sell, and where a very nice lady always sells geodes from her front yard. For one dollar, you can take a whole geode home with you, or you can buy one that is already split open, or grab a sledge hammer and break one open yourself (great way to take out your frustrations). On to the fairgrounds we went in search of more bargains. I found a chair for my new kitchen table (which I will be making this spring) for only $8.00! We picked up the pace while battling the scorching heat and managed to make it up to Lawrenceburg before the end of the day. One of my favorite spots is at the Eagle Lake Flea Market. Some renovations had been made to the building, and unfortunately, there were not as many vendors inside as I had seen before. Outdoors, there were more vendors, but we wanted to hurry and get a little further up the road to where there were vendors set up in a large field. I was a little disappointed to see that there were fewer vendors this year, but we still managed to find some good deals, and even got some things for free! The end of the day (and the end of our adventure) was fast approaching, but we were fortunate to come upon one more site with vendors still selling. This place was mostly shaded by trees – wonderful relief from the heat! We saw some interesting items in all price ranges. Here, I found my best and final score of the trip - a marble table top for only $12.00. Back home to Cincinnati we went, with a full load of purchases and lots of fun memories. As you can see from the photos, I scored lots of goodies to breathe new life into. In fact, some of these items have already been put to use. I hope you enjoyed my yard sale adventure. As you may have realized, much of the fun of the 127 sale involves meeting new people, sharing stories, eating great food, and having someone along who enjoys the experience as much as I do (or almost as much). Finding lots of treasures at bargain prices is the icing on the cake! If you browse through my store items, you might just spot a few of my finds from this year's "Longest Yard Sale."
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