By Sharon Haught
Yard sale enthusiasts, clear your calendars for August 6, 7 and 8. Ohio’s Longest Yard Sale is back and it’s bigger than ever.
In its fifth year, the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale is a three-day event that stretches through four states – Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Illinois – and offers bargain savvy shoppers the opportunity to visit the nearly 750 yard sales that will be held along the path of the original Lincoln Highway.
“The Lincoln Highway Historic Byway created this event in 2005 on the outside chance that it would go, and we’ve been busy managing it ever since,” said Sara Lou Brown, president of the state-designated byway group.
The first year saw over 250 yard sales across the Ohio portion of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first coast-to-coast paved road. That number has grown steadily as more and more yard sale enthusiasts discover the event and dozens of communities seize the opportunity to add festival-type activities such as concerts, car shows and rallies, food and kids’ activities to make it more enjoyable for those travelling the historic road in search of bargains.
While a typical yard sale attracts a few dozen shoppers from the immediate area, the Lincoln Highway Buy-Yard Sale isn’t your typical yard sale. Close to a quarter of a million people are expected to cruise the Ohio portion of the Lincoln Highway during the sale this year.
And many aren’t even from Ohio.
According to Mike Hocker, executive director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, last year “only about 65 percent of the shoppers along Ohio’s potion of the Buy Way route were from Ohio. The rest were from Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin – you name it.”
According to Marty Starkey, Wayne County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, last year there were over 100 yard sales in Wayne County alone.
For the past three years, one of the largest has been held at Lincoln Way Elementary School in Wooster, which rents space around its grounds as a fundraiser for its annual sixth grade student trip. The proceeds will help defray the costs for the over 30 students and their chaperones who will be traveling to Columbus and Dayton next May.
“With the economy and the state of funding, any fundraiser that benefits a school, or
in this case, a school and a neighborhood, is welcome,” said John Blythe, who is assisting with planning the Lincoln Way event.
“It is exciting for the kids to meet and greet shoppers from different parts of Ohio and other states,” said Blythe. “This always seem to shine a positive light on the students and Lincoln Way Elementary, because these kids and parents give up a little vacation time to make this a must stop along the highway.”
Blythe noted that booth space at Lincoln Way is still available for the event. Anyone interested in obtaining more information can contact him at 330-264-5322.
To help shoppers locate other community events and yard sales taking place during the Buy-Way, Hocker noted that a travelers’ guide and map has been prepared and can be downloaded at www.historicbyway.com under the header Yard Sale.
Starting on August 5, a list of items for the Buy-Way Scavenger Hunt will also be posted on the Web site. “Participants will travel and shop the Buy-Way and find some common, inexpensive items, photograph them and submit them for the chance to win...prize packages consisting of an overnight stay, restaurant and retail gift certificates, free passes to museums, and more, all along the Lincoln Highway in Ohio.”
