Air Date: Week of May 31, 2002

This week, we have facts about yard sales. The world’s longest yard sale stretches 450 miles across three states, and is guaranteed to have something for everyone.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Welcome back to Living on Earth. I’m Steve Curwood.

[MUSIC: Stuart Crombie & Dennis Berry, "Bargains Galore," MUSIC FOR T.V. DINNERS (Scampe/Caroline – 1997)]

CURWOOD: Summer is a comin’ in. And that means yard sales are sprouting up like wild daisies along the roadside, as all those extra widgets and knickknacks make their way out of dusty attics and onto freshly mowed lawns. If you go, make sure to take lots of water and towels to clean off potential buys.

That advice comes from Jeffrey Hood, who’s been bargain hunting for the past 13 years and has furnished his entire house with yard sale finds.

HOOD: My house has been described as a cross between an Egyptian temple and Pee Wee’s Playhouse. It’s a real mixture of things from various eras. But, a lot of them are one-of-a-kind pieces and they were just right on the side of the road.

CURWOOD: Mr. Hood says he found most of his collection at the world’s longest yard sale.

HOOD: It’s like my Christmas. You live for it all year long.

CURWOOD: That’s right. Down south, come August 15th, there will be some 3000 vendors offering treasures and trash along a 450-mile stretch of Highway 127, between Covington, Kentucky and Gadsden, Alabama. There will be tents and tables packed with everything from tractors to church windows, to brass beds.

One year, there was even an entire row of used kitchen sinks. So, go ahead and hit the road. And if you look long enough, veteran yard saler Jeffrey Hood says you might find your own Holy Grail of hand-me-downs.

HOOD: Somebody is going to come across that one thing that’s really, you know, the masterpiece out there, just waiting to be found. So, that’s part of the allure.

CURWOOD: And, for this week, that’s the Living on Earth Almanac.

[MUSIC UNDER]

 

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