Ronald Hanks has a vacant lot next to his property outside of Waskom where he lets vendors sell their wares.
It’s a bargain shoppers’ dream and a pickers’ paradise.
The Historic U.S. Highway 80 Sale, which extends from Dallas to Georgia and is known as the longest yard sale in America, is Friday through Sunday. Started by the East Texas Tourism Association more than 30 years ago, the sale is held annually in spring and fall, usually on the third weekend of April and October, but Easter’s late date pushed this year’s spring sale a week later.
Danna Hassell, of Minden, who’s been shopping the sale twice a year for about six years to find project pieces to flip, describes it as one yard after another set up like a garage sale.“
You just stop at each spot and purchase your items, shop around, just like you would at a yard sale,” she said. “Sometimes you can haggle and make a deal and get a good, good, good, good buy on something — an old, antique piece of furniture maybe that had been sitting on somebody’s back porch that’s a little rickety. I can bring it back to the shop, break it down, glue it back together, sand it down, repaint it, restain it and make it beautiful again.”
