What I Got at the World's Longest Yard Sale
Plus, my tips on how to take the trip yourself
The World’s Longest Yard Sale has come and gone (until next August, at least, when it pops up again from Aug. 7-10). It was an absolute whirlwind which, if you know me, means that I loved it. I am the kind of person who wants to be overstimulated, all the time. I always joke that I need a vacation from my vacations because I rarely relax.
And the yard sale was no vacation. It was an up-at-dawn, hit-the-road, pull-over-and-dig-through junk extravaganza. If you aren’t down with that, you would hate it.
To be very clear: this is a series of yard sales. There are major vendor stops (with 25 or more vendors gathered in one location, like a county fairground or a field) and then there are just yard sales at homes all along the route (most of the route is along Highway 127, except for Alabama and Tennessee, which veer off that path).
That means there are literally thousands of places to stop, so you really have to plan accordingly. You need a plan of attack to do this thing right and that was my aim with my first 127 Yard Sale adventure: to get the lay of the land and figure out the best way to shop it moving forward.
Below, I’ve rounded up my finds (with a little bit of detail about why I got what I did), the pieces I regret not buying, and my tips for how to navigate the sale yourself.
How to Navigate the World’s Longest Yard Sale
Determine your route. Most of the sale weaves along Highway 127, but it veers off the route in Alabama and Tennessee, so you have to look at the maps on the website to ensure you’re going the right way.
Fit in as many sales as you can, not as many towns as you can. If you tried to drive through one state per day, you simply would not have time to shop. Some stops can take an hour, and the next stop might be just half a mile away. It’s literally just yard sales for hundreds of miles. To make the most of the experience, I would stick to two or three states max over the course of the four days and really try and cover just like 100-200 miles per day.
Pack snacks. Some of the towns you drive through are very small and while there are food vendors at the major stops, they are mostly selling things like funnel cakes. Also not a lot of quality bathrooms to speak of, so you’ll want to keep things healthy. We packed jerky and RX Bars and ate those constantly.
Bring sunscreen, lip balm, and bug spray. It was so hot that I literally sweat through my clothes every day. You need to protect your skin. I am into mineral sunscreen (which some reports suggest is better for you than the chemical stuff — though, to be fair, it’s important to use sunscreen no matter what kind it is). I use this on my face and this on my body. This is my preferred lip balm, which is more of a treatment, so it lasts a long time (excellent for long car rides in air-conditioning). And I love this insect repellent for travel, which is solid, so it won’t spill.
Why I Bought What I Bought
I will get into this in depth in next week’s newsletter, but my primary objective when thrifting/yard-sale-ing/estate sale-ing is to find special pieces. Yes, that often means what I shop for is more valuable, but that’s because value often signifies uniqueness. Read that again if you have to. Certainly, there are things in this world that are expensive merely because of their label. But by and large, many expensive things are priced according to what they are made of, and how they were made. It’s the same reason a McDonald’s cheeseburger is $3, while an Au Cheval burger is $19 — both are the sum of their parts, and the Au Cheval burger has better ingredients and was crafted by experts, not on an assembly line.
When I am shopping vintage, I am looking for items made out of quality materials (brass, marble, silk, leather), by expert craftsmen, and one-of-a-kind finds. That might mean a marble box by Maitland-Smith or it might be a charcoal drawing by a college student. Both hold value because they are (in the case of the box) crafted by experts, out of expensive materials or (in the case of the drawing) crafted by experts, and made only once. Original artwork is worth more than a print or poster, because it’s one of one — it was touched by the artist, it was signed, and only one person gets to have it.
So that’s what I went for at the 127 Yard Sale: items that I had not seen before, and knew I would not find elsewhere. There were certainly things I left behind, one great example of which is a selection of Peter Keil paintings sold by a vendor in Tennessee. He had a small one priced at $150, a medium at $400, and a large at $700. Now, this is not a bad price for Peter Keil, considering his works go for as much on sites like Chairish and 1stDibs, but it’s not a great price for me, considering I once bought three Peter Keil paintings for $100 on Craigslist (I also see his work all the time at antique shows, there’s a ton of it out there).
I do have regrets, like the below painting! I didn’t purchase it primarily because of its size (it would have taken up the backseat to the point that we wouldn’t have been able to see out the car, and it was very chippy — which I wouldn’t mind except being shoved in a car full of stuff would have caused it further damage). But I go thrifting, estate-sale-ing, antiquing so often…something else will pop up for me.
As for the things I did buy, well, the sun sculpture was just very cool and I knew it had to be special. And it was! I listed it on Chairish and it sold for 30 times what I paid in about 24 hours. The little brass dish is stamped Made in Italy and features a little coin. I’m into coins lately, and I love this guy. So chic. The jacket is a Victorian piece but the shoulders make it feel so fresh. (It’s also disintegrating, full disclosure.) The magazine rack is a 1950s piece, and just the kind of thing I like. The art, well, also very me. Loved them both. The drawing is an original, by a student for an art show (info is on the back) and the other one is a signed lithograph by Paul Geygan.
Rapid Fire
A recent obsession: Raygun, the Australian breakdancer who has taken the Internet by storm with her…questionable moves.
My favorite way to mask a bad hair day: I have gotten really into wearing a headband and these $10 variety packs (there’s a black, a white, and a gray) cover all the bases. It covers grays, oily roots, you name it — and it looks great with a dress or with activewear. Here are some styling ideas via Vogue.
A recipe I’m dying to make: A smoked trout Caesar wrap with crispy parm? Sign me up.
and I’ll leave you with this…