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World’s Longest Yard Sale set for first weekend in August

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Summer is the season of sun, sports, vacations and yard sales. The 127 Yard Sale advertises itself as the “world’s longest yard sale.” This massive event stretches over 690 miles through Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. Various groups, organizations, small businesses and people set up in different locations along the route and sell anything and everything that can be found at a yard sale. The event takes place the first Thursday through Sunday of August every year. This year that is August first through fourth.

Josh Randall is the director of media relations for 127yardsale.com. He says the sales may look different depending on their location.

“There's tons of yard sales all up and down the route. Sometimes it's just people in their front yards having your typical yard sale. Sometimes it's groups of people all together in a big field or at a like a convention center, agricultural center, sometimes at fairgrounds, so you see all kinds of different so,” Randall said.

The event originated in 1987 in Jamestown, Tennessee, on Highway 127, which is where the name 127 hails from. This year marks the 37th anniversary of the event. It has since expanded from Tennessee and Kentucky into Georgia, Alabama, Ohio and Michigan, and grown into the enormous event it is now.

Randall advises visitors to select just a portion of the route to explore for the best experience.

“Generally, it's pretty much impossible to do all the states,” Randall said. “I mean, just the drive time alone, if you weren't even stopping, would be pretty long, so we always recommend that people kind of take their time enjoy, enjoy it and just go see everything there is to see. We recommend people travel about 50 to 75 miles a day. That's about the average that you can go.”

Shopping is just one part of the experience, said Randall. Many visitors look forward to the sale all year long, and have groups and games dedicated to following it.

“I saw recently somebody posted in our in our Facebook group, which has over 65,000 members right now, that they actually do a scavenger hunt kind of thing,” Randall said. “And they'll put all kinds of crazy items on there. And whoever you know, finds those items first in their group, you know, they give them some kind of prize.”

Cash is the most widely accepted form of payment, Randall explained, and the event is rain or shine in most places, so visitors should plan accordingly. 127yardsale.com has an interactive map of the route, information on lodging and major vendor stops along the way. Click here for more information.

Caroline Karrh is a student intern in the Alabama Public Radio newsroom. She majors in News Media and Communication Studies at The University of Alabama. She loves to read, write and report. When she is not in the newsroom, Caroline enjoys spending time with her friends and family, reading romance novels and coaching soccer.

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