Every year along the 690 mile stretch of roadway, some of which runs through Albany/Clinton County, yard sale enthusiast get their pocketbooks out and go on the hunt for the bargain of a lifetime.

For those looking for a great buy at a yard sale, well, the wait is over. The 127 Sale will officially begin on Thursday, August 6 and wraps up on Sunday, August 9, but for most locals the sales have already started.

Several vendors have already been set up and a few have been up and running for a complete week by the time the official start up for the 127 Corridor Sale begins.

One local vendor, Brenda Beard, has been setting up at the 127 Sale for around five years now and she enjoys being out with the people.

“All the locals like to come out and shop before the travelers get here,” Beard said. “If you get set up early you can get out and scope out your competition.”

Beard hopes bad weather will hold off until the sale is over, but as of Monday morning, rain chances for the weekend were pretty high.

“I’m hoping it will be pretty good, but I looked at the weather last night and I don’t know how it will turn out,” Beard said. “If it rains it will really hurt us.”

Beard said there is a little bit of everything at her booth, located behind Hunter’s Hickory Smoked Bar-B-Que booth on U.S. 127, across from the old Ford Garage Building.

“This is what we call a five-family yard sale booth,” Beard said. “You have five different individuals who have put stuff in. I just volunteer to sit out here.”

Beard said the biggest reward of sitting days and days at the yard sale is getting to visit with the people who pass through.

“The biggest thing for me is getting to talk to the people who travel,” Beard said. “You would be surprised at some of the stories you will hear. You will even have people from across the ocean.”

Along with the in and out of state travelers, Beard said there are a couple of travelers from Australia and England.

“Last year we had two families from Australia and they will stay and chat with ya,” Beard said. “If you talk to them they will stay and chat. Pull them up a chair and put them in the shade and they will stay with you for a while. It’s a lot of fun.”

Beard said you don’t really make any money selling stuff at the 127 Sale.

“It usually takes about two days to get set up and two days to take stuff down,” Beard said. “You are more about visiting than you are about selling. We have a big family, so kids clothes we sell for about a quarter a piece.”

Most of what Beard had in her booth was clothing, books and kids toys with a few collectible pieces that will catch the right person’s eye.

“Right here before school starts we sell a lot of clothes,” Beard said. “I have anywhere from baby clothes to teenagers and adult clothes. When you have five families you can go from an extra large to a tiny size and cover everything. We try to bring out all the coats and everything we are not going to wear this year and move them on to someone who is going to use them. It’s good when people come back to see you year after year.”

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.

Several 127 Corridor vendors were out and about Monday morning, some three days before the official event begins, trying to get a jump on the deals to be had along the 690 mile sale.