Gary Nelson "Gary's World" Published Aug. 5, 2005

The Corridor Sale: Miles and miles of yard sale ecstasy

They say one man's junk is another man's treasure.

Well, I must admit that I love junk. It's treasure, though, when I get it and bring it home.

With the annual Hwy. 127 Corridor Sale upon us as I write this column, I can hardly sit still and concentrate. You see, for us yard sale junkies, this weekend is like a major holiday. Nevermind the traffic, horrific temperatures and smells wafting through the air from only God knows what. The wonderful, magnificent, beautiful, glorious, annual holiday has arrived. This weekend is like the yard sale junkie's Christmas. I can't even count how many sleepless nights I've had dreaming about the annual event. Well, I guess I wouldn't go that far ... I know a lot of people hate it because of the traffic. Just leave extra early I say.

Now for the past several years my wife and I have set up for the sale and have attempted to pander our goods, or what used to be goods to us, to others. You'd be amazed at what sells during this sale. The people who come to this sale are looking for junk. Just a couple of years ago, I witnessed a woman purchase a 12-inch tall plaster, gold spray-painted Budda for $15. Now that's amazing. It was a miracle to behold.

Now admit it - you have a bunch of junk like that laying around.

There are things in your home or garage that haven't seen the light of day in years and it's just piling up on you and waiting to be used again. You won't ever use it, though, but there it sits, taking up space.

If you have nothing to do this weekend, turn off the TV, load up the old pickup and head out to Hwy. 127 and pitch a tent and table and sell your junk. I guarantee that your stuff will bless some unsuspecting buyer with a wonderful day. Your junk will become their treasure.

As I look back over the years, I fondly remember some of the Hwy. 127 sales of the past.

There was 1997. That was the year I got to leave work early, on my birthday, and hit a lot of the sales. I wound up finding a musical instrument that was worth 10 times what I paid for it. I know the yard sale gods were surely smiling upon me that day.

Then there was 1998. It was the worst year ever because it rained the entire weekend and many vendors left early. Sometimes, late at night, I still wake up in a cold sweat dreaming about that weekend.

Then there was 1999. That was the year my wife and I sold our living room set that we bought in 1988 for exactly the same amount of money that we paid for it. Wow - 11 years of free use.

The people who bought it were tickled to death to get it home. Now this is the kind of joy only a yard sale of such magnitude as the 127 Corridor Sale can bring.

Not only that, but think of the money this sale brings into small towns like Crossville each year. The retailers, restaurants and business owners all practically jump up and down over the funding that floods through their registers.

Thanks to Internet Web site outlets such as eBay, thousands of people are getting into the yard sale business. There's even a TV show on Turner South called "Junkin'" where a couple goes to various yard sales and flea markets and purchases junk items and lists them for sale on eBay. Viewers of the show can go online and bid on the items that are up for auction. I guess I don't have to tell you what one of my favorite TV shows is. Val and Dave, the hosts of the show, will devote themselves to all four days of the 127 Corridor Sale this year. They have even come through Crossville in the past.

This junkin' hobby is in fact becoming so popular that many people are getting into selling their items and going to yard sales to buy more items to sell. There are decorator shows on various TV networks where people buy junk and refurbish it and put it into their homes.

Looking at it in these terms, I guess I'm some sort of a junk pioneer because folks, I've been doing this kind of stuff for more than 20 years. Now my wife likes this kind of stuff, too, but she's not a true junk enthusiast the way I am. She's maybe good for an hour or two, then I have usually have to break off the choke hold she has on me in her attempt to snap me back into reality and go home.

Then there's the flea market. Well, that's another column for another time. Let me just put it this way, there's nothing quite like looking at junk, eating an elephant ear and chugging a lemonade while listening to a goat naaying and a rooster crowing off in the distance.

As far as this weekend goes, I don't know about you, but I will invariably be hitting the many miles of yard sale ecstasy along Hwy. 127.

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Gary Nelson is a Chronicle staffwriter. His column appears periodically in the Crossville Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at gnelson@crossville-chronicle.com.