127 Sale traffic might have been down, but vendors, buyers combine in good numbers for another successful weekend

Posted August 13, 2014 at 1:34 pm

As Sunday rolled into Monday during the second week of August, the countdown started over for the 127 Corridor Sale.

This past weekend’s event seems to come in spurts for local vendors, but with semi-good weather on stretches of the highway, there were deals to be had and for those who plowed through the traffic it proved to be a bargain.

Even though most vendors travel all over the United States to sell their stuff for a living, one small group of two people chose to use the 127 Sale as a way to help their church, First Christian Church Disciples of Christ.

“We have just a little bit of everything from tires to clothes to beds,” Renea Haddock said. “We’ve been collecting stuff for about a year now.”

Haddock and a volunteer helper, Cindy King, were set up in the vacant lot in between City Hall and the church.

Haddock said some of the proceeds made during the 127 Sale are going back to the church.

“We were also giving away free Christian CD s and pencils and crayons for the kids since they are starting back to school,” Haddock said. “This is kind of an outreach for the First Christian Church. They will get about 20 percent of our proceeds and 100 percent of any donations we receive.”

The money collected during the 127 Sale will go back into the community Haddock said. There are several events or things the church does throughout the year in order to help those in need.

“We buy lotion and donate it to the people at the nursing home,” Haddock said. “We give to Relay for Life, the Christian retirement home for elderly who don’t have anywhere to go. We only have about 20 members in this church and what few people we have, we do a lot. We have gotten down so low on our membership that we are not really able to do the Relay for Life and Bible Schools … stuff like that.”

Where there is a will there is a way and being low on members at the church doesn’t keep Haddock and her church from helping out.

“We work with other churches in the area. We really do a lot of things that people wouldn’t think about,” Haddock said. “That’s where the money goes … it goes for different things throughout the community.”

Haddock and King said they started setting up Wednesday afternoon and they packed up Saturday afternoon in order to clear the parking lot by Sunday services.

“We are really trying to get the word out,” Haddock said. “A lot of churches are dealing with low numbers in membership. We are the young people in the church and I’m 50. That tells you that something has to be done. I think a lot of the problem is the young people move away. It’s just hard to get young people into church anymore.”

Haddock said the sale, as of Friday morning, had been really slow and with most of her stuff priced low to sell, it was a worry she wouldn’t sell enough.

“It’s much slower than it was last year,” Haddock said. “It seems people are looking for things they need. When we tell people our prices they are like, ‘Oh we like your prices … So you guys are an actual yard-sale.’ Yes we are a yard-sale and we are selling to get rid of stuff.”

“It’s like the lady who bought six glasses,” King said. “She is setting up a house so she needed dishes.”

Haddock said out of all the things she had at her sale, toys were selling the least.

“Very few toys have sold,” Haddock said. “The main thing with that is if we have a whole box for sale. Sheets, people are looking for sheets … we’ve sold a lot of appliances off the table. We’ve sold three or four coffee pots and we have a outlet here, so we check them to make sure they work. Being a church, we want to be honest. We want everyone to be happy with what they get.”

At one of Clinton County’s epicenters, Mountain View Roadside Park, people pulled in and checked out the booths all weekend and it appeared to be rather busy.

Park Director Bobby Reneau said he had several more food booths this year which really helped out compared to the one last year.

He also said one side of his spaces were filled up and he had several new ones and a couple old customers who didn’t show this year because of the way the weekend fell in the month.

“It went pretty good. We made a little more money than we did last year,” Reneau said. There were three more booths in the Farmers Market that we haven’t had in the past and three more food booths.

Reneau said most of his vendors were scared the new bypass might effect the traffic on Hwy 127 through Albany, but he said nearly all vendors was well pleased.

“The tree man sold the fire out of them trees. He brought three trailers full and loaded everything he didn’t sell in the back of his truck so I know he was pleased,” Reneau said. “Most want the same spot back next year and if they want to come back you know it was good for them.”

Reneau said the park was very busy on Friday and had nearly all the spaces in the parking lot full most of the day.

“At least we weren’t down from last year,” Reneau said. We did pretty good.”

Below, Renea Haddock and Cindy King were set up Friday during the 127 Corridor Sale in the vacant lot in between Albany City Hall and the First Christian Church. Haddock said a percentage of her sales are being donated to the church to help provide funds for various community events throughout the year.

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J.T. Hardin, right, shows one of the handmade wooden bowls he was selling last weekend to potential customers at his booth in the Snow Community of Clinton County. Hardin was one of several local vendors who had set up for the 127 World’s Longest Yard Sale last weekend, joining several vendors who had traveled to this area to sell a variety of items. Hardin, who makes the bowls along with his wife’s father and grandfather, said they were constructed from buckeye wood.