Yard sales events coming to VW area

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

While it won’t officially be the Crossroads Festival this year, the Van Wert Rib Fest will still be surrounded by yard sales that occur the next two weekends.

This weekend is the Highway 127 Yard Sale and local residents are already setting up for the 25th annual edition of the sales, which traverse the length of U.S. 127, from Alabama to Michigan.

In past years, thousands of people have flocked to the Van Wert area to participate in the annual sales events, although it’s not sure if the separation of the Highway 127 and Lincoln Buy-Way sales will have a negative impact on the number of people coming to the area.

The past few years, both sales have occurred the same weekend, putting Van Wert in the unique position of being the crossroads for both sales. That position also fostered the local Crossroads Festival that included the Rib Fest and its many events and activities.

This weekend’s Highway 127 Yard Sales event will feature a number of individual and group yard sales along Washington Street in Van Wert and U.S. 127 in the rural areas. In addition to individual sales, North Union United Methodist Church, Wassenberg Art Center, and Van Wert Victory Church are renting out spaces to individuals and groups, while there are also rental spaces available in the Commercial Building on the Van Wert County Fairgrounds.

North Union Church also provides refreshments to sales-goers who come to its location north of Van Wert on U.S. 127.

The Highway 127 Yard Sale event, which runs from Wednesday through Saturday, will also feature the first “Market on Main” sales event in front of the Van Wert County Courthouse, starting this Thursday. Market on Main, which is planned as a weekly event, will include a number of local vendors that will provide a variety of products, including farm produce, artwork, baked goods, manufactured goods and direct sales items.

And don’t forget the Rib Fest, which is now a two-day event and includes a plethora of activities and entertainment, including seven bands, cornhole and Wiffleball tournaments, good food and lots of other activities.

For those not entirely exhausted by this weekend’s yard sales, the Lincoln Buy-Way Yard Sale event comes to Van Wert next weekend, bringing more bargain hunters to the city along the east-west Lincoln Highway. The YWCA and others are offering yard sale spaces to local residents who want to sell off unwanted items.

Anyone who has a yen for yard sales after those two events is a truly insatiable aficionado — but enjoy anyway!