Big yard sale affords huge opportunities
There's nothing like a big sale to attract someone's attention. The Lincoln Highway Buy-Way yard sale certainly ought to do that, and then some. Illinois is joining up for the yard sale's third annual incarnation. Since the historic Lincoln Highway crosses the Sauk Valley from Rochelle to Fulton, it provides quite an opportunity to showcase other communities like Ashton, Franklin Grove, Dixon, Sterling and Morrison, not to mention Nachusa, Agnew, Round Grove, Unionville and others.
The sale will be Aug. 9-11. If it is anything like the More on 34 yard sale last month, it could be a lot of fun.
That particular highway yard sale stretched for 175 miles along U.S. Route 34 from Sandwich to Biggsville. Many communities along the road got into the act. Some had special events tied to the yard sale. It wasn't just people in towns that participated, either. Homeowners out in the countryside posted signs and set up tables. One woman conducted a "Slow Down" yard sale, encouraging Route 34 motorists to hit the brakes, stop in and browse through her offerings.
The Lincoln Highway sale got started in the state of Ohio just two years ago. Indiana signed up last year, and with West Virginia and Illinois participating this year, the sale's combined length will stretch about 586 miles. When Lincoln Highway communities in Iowa join next year, the sale will extend nearly 1,000 miles, eclipsing the 600-mile Highway 127 sale that runs from Tennessee to Alabama.
In our area, the Lincoln Highway follows modern state Route 38 westward from Rochelle to Dixon, then picks up Route 2 to Sterling, then hooks up with U.S. Route 30 and proceeds westward to Morrison and Fulton.
A church in Ashton already has signed up to have a rummage sale the second weekend in August, with church members preparing German coffee cake and coffee for travelers.
More communities across the Sauk Valley should seize the opportunity to participate in one way or another - either through individual or group yard sales, or by scheduling special events during the weekend. It wouldn't hurt to try to encourage sale-goers to take detours to nearby attractions.
We hope local Lincoln Highway enthusiasts, tourism leaders and community officials get behind this idea and take advantage of what could be a parade of visitors driving through to check out local bargains and points of interest.
