For those looking for great buy at a yard sale, well, the wait is over. The 127 Sale will officially begin on Thursday, August 7 and wrap up on Sunday, August 10, but for most locals the sales have already started.

Many vendors come into Albany and set up early in order to entice the local crowd. The usual locations will be up and running again this year with booths and vendors being set up at Mountain View Park, the empty lot behind the Welcome Center, as well as several spots at the old Ford Garage Building and across the road where Hunter’s Hickory Smoked Bar-B-Cue will be serving up some backyard eats.

Crowds are expected to take in the 127 Sale with record numbers as weather and gas prices should be tolerable for travel.

“Last year was the best year I’ve ever had,” Bo Carroll said. “We just have started this year and I’m hoping it will be a lot better than last year. People are looking for bargains and we have them here.”

Carroll, along with Wayne Gregory, has been setting up at the 127 Sale for the past 10 years behind the Dollar Giant in the lots owned by Keith Garrett.

“We’ve been here for a while,” Carroll said. “I kind of think we got it started here for Keith. We started out closer to the road then they built the Dollar Giant and we had to move back a little.”

Carroll and Gregory agreed most people traveling the 127 Sale are looking for necessity items.

“People’s money is getting tighter so instead of buying something they don’t need, they are buying necessary items,” Gregory said. “If you can buy it here for half price they are not going to go to Wal-Mart and get it … they can’t.”

“It saves them a lot of money that way and they get the same use out of it,” Carroll said.

Both Carroll and Gregory are from Monticello and both were still setting up Tuesday morning in order to get ready for the early sales on Wednesday.

“You have your early sales come on Wednesday and Thursday, which are people who come from Alabama and different places,” Carroll said. “A lot of the people I’ve seen every year … almost every year I’ve been here. They are trying to find bargains, but they are getting the better stuff. We are going to have a lot of different stuff this year.”

Carroll said his sale has everything from appliances to door hinges.

“We have 2,000 DVDs and more than 10,000 comic books,” Carroll said.

Gregory said he and Carroll have bought several different buyouts from major stores and most of their items will be on sale this week.

“I hope they come with their money to spend,” Carroll said. “We will have some more furniture. We just don’t have it set out yet.”

Carroll said people don’t just come from the eastern United States. He has met people from Hawaii and Canada.

“I’ve had people come from California, Hawaii and even Canada,” Carroll said. “It’s a big money thing for this county.

The 690-mile yard sale extends from Addison, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama. Headquarters for the event are at the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce in Jamestown, Tennessee.