Route 111 35+-Mile Yard Sale to Offer 105 Yard Sales in Macoupin County

MACOUPIN COUNTY - The annual Route 111 35+-Mile Yard Sale will be held this weekend, June 7 and 8, 2024.

With 105 registered locations in Waverly, Modesto, Palmyra, Hettick, Chesterfield, Medora and Brighton, the yard sale is one of the biggest community-wide yard sales in Macoupin County. Coordinator Mary Lou Griffith noted that there is a wide variety of items available at these sales, and most of the towns will also have food vendors set up in parks.

“You can find about anything at this yard sale,” Griffith said. “After ten years, every town just kind of has their own way of doing things and the same volunteers pretty much every year, so it flows pretty good.”

Griffith explained that the 35+-Mile Yard Sale is technically 43 miles along Route 111, from Waverly to Brighton. People set up yard sales at their houses and in parks. Roughly 1,000 people will travel along this route over the weekend, with some people coming from as far as Peoria or Springfield to enjoy the yard sales.

To be included on the official Route 111 yard sale map, you must register by paying $5 per house or $15 if you plan to set up your items at a park. The money is divided among the Basic Life Skills programs at the four school districts along the route. This program works with neurodivergent children to teach emotional and social skills.

Griffith explained that the Route 111 yard sale was originally started ten years ago by Vern and Carol Rose in Chesterfield, who had a grandson with autism and wanted to raise funds for autism awareness. As the yard sale evolved, they ultimately chose the Basic Life Skills program as their fundraiser.

“They use those funds for extra programs, materials, field trips, that kind of stuff. So we’ve always done this, not just to have something to go do, but actually a fundraiser,” Griffith said. “It’s a really helpful thing that didn’t use to exist not that many years ago…I probably wouldn’t have kept doing it so long if it wasn’t going to something I believed in.”

For more information about the Route 111 35+-Mile Yard Sale, including a map of yard sale locations, visit the official Facebook page.

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