BUCKHANNON – West Virginia Largest Yard sale will return this August after a hiatus in 2020.
Executive director of the Upshur County Convention and Visitors Bureau Laura Meadows said the yard sale will take place Aug. 6 and 7 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We partner with Lewis County, and we encourage local people, local organizations and businesses to register a yard sale online with us, and then we just start scattering yard sales all over the place,” Meadows said. “It’s insane how much people love this event; I’ve had a waiting list of people who wanted to confirm the date, confirm all the details so they could plan their trips to come here for so long, but people just love the bargains.”
Meadows said the yard sales can be found across town area, and she encourages visitors to explore.
“We always have to make sure people understand they’re just scattered, which makes it kind of more of like a scavenger hunt type of trip. You have to look all around the community,” Meadows said. “We do an updated online Google map that locates where each registered yard sale is and then we partner with The Record Delta and they do a printed map the week of the event.”
Meadows said the yard sales offer a plethora of items and a wide variety of people converge to shop at all the different sales.
“I always find the most interesting thing is that the older men like to go out early in the mornings and track down tools and equipment, when you just generically think that women are going to be the shoppers,” Meadows said, “but the men really like to find specific things and look for a good price. I know there’s somebody who has come repeatedly from Florida, and they’ve even rented a U-Haul to get stuff back.”
She said the yard sale is also a good time for businesses to fundraise.
“It’s a really good time for fundraiser because organizations can register their yard sale for free with us and then they can set up a booth space and it’s a good way to get the traffic flow,” Meadows said. “West Virginia for sure has a huge turnout of people, but every surrounding state for sure has a decent number of visitors that come in just for the event.”
Meadows said the event is also good for local businesses.
“You either love it or you hate it – I say that every year, but even if you hate it, you have to see what an impact it has on Buckhannon and Weston. Not only are people shopping the yard sales, but they’re staying in the hotels, they’re eating at the restaurants, they’re stopping in little shops on Main Street,” Meadows said. “It really is a good thing for our community, so that’s why we want to keep it moving and thriving.”
For more information or to register your yard sale, visit the CVB’s website here, email info@visitbuckhannon.com or call 304-473-1400.
