Shoppers come out for 43-mile yard sale

By Ben Orcutt -- borcutt@nvdaily.com

People and cars navigate Old Valley Pike south of Strasburg on Saturday during the fifth annual U.S. Route 11 Yard Crawl. The area's largest yard sale extends 43 miles from Stephens City to New Market. Andrew Thayer/Daily People browse through the many items for sale Saturday during the yard crawl. Andrew Thayer/Daily Two goats patiently wait to be sold at a yard sale south of Strasburg during the U.S. Route 11 Yard Crawl on Saturday. Andrew Thayer/Daily Audrey Veno sits in her yard south of Strasburg with her granddaughter, Brittany Coffman, of Maurertown, on Saturday during the 5th Annual Route 11 Yard Crawl. Many of her family came to sell items making this yard sale a reunion as well. Andrew Thayer/Daily Jacob Sexton, 4 months, reaches for his cousin, Nevaeh Garrett, 1, while Arianna Adolphson, 2, watches from behind on Saturday during the 5th Annual Route 11 Yard Crawl south of Strasburg. Family members have come together to sell items making this a reunion as well as a yard sale. The area's largest yard sale extends 43 miles from Stephens City to New Market. Andrew Thayer/Daily

STRASBURG -- While the fifth annual U.S. Route 11 Yard Crawl stretched from New Market to Stephens City, folks just south of Strasburg near Liberty Baptist Church like to think of their section as the center of activity.

"This is yard-sale central," said Georgia Bailey, 59, who set up shop at the home she rents from Bob and Ann Miller.

"I've done pretty well here the last couple days," Bailey said, noting that some folks began selling items before Saturday.

"It takes more than a day to set all this up," Bailey added.

Bailey has a good idea of how she'll spend her profits.

"Some of it is going for school clothes for the grandkids," she said.

Mrs. Miller, 49, said she enjoyed, "making money and talking to the new people."

"We started unpacking Tuesday night and Wednesday," she said, adding that she made about $1,500.

"I'm not selling," Miller said. "It's her thing. I just support her."

Like his wife, Miller said he enjoyed seeing all of the people.

"I guess it's amazing how many people actually come out to this thing and how many people pass through this yard right here during the day Saturday," he said.

Stacey Chandler, 34, of Toms Brook, and her boyfriend, Shawn Hepner, 38, of Strasburg, were set up with some of her relatives at the home of Audrey Veno.

"We sold about $200 [worth]," Chandler said, adding that $100 of that was from a 12-gauge shotgun Hepner sold.

"We get to see a lot of the people we ain't seen in a long time," Chandler said. "It's almost like a big family reunion. This is like a real hot spot down through here. It's like a big loop."

Veno's daughter, Lorrie Crabill, 52, of Toms Brook, her son, Chris Crabill, 27, of Strasburg, and her daughter, Brandy Clem, 15, were gathered under a tent on Veno's front lawn.

"It's been pretty good," Lorrie Crabill said of sales. "It's been steady all day. Just a lot of people looking for bargains."

All of the family members sell things separately, Chris Crabill said, adding that his highest-dollar item since the yard crawl began at 7 a.m. was a baby stroller he sold for $30.

Crabill said he's willing to work with customers on the price.

"I'm pretty easy," he said. "Real easy, actually."

Clem said she and her mother made between $400 and $500 before 5 p.m. Asked what she planned to do with her share of the loot, Clem said, "just probably blow it on something."

Crystal St. Clair, 34, of Strasburg, a friend of the Crabills, said the group gave away kittens and were selling roosters, rabbits, goats and cockatoos.

Kenny Benjamin, 35, of Stephens City, also a friend of the Crabill family, was selling Sean Taylor Washington Redskin jerseys for $55 each.

"I've sold a lot of stuff," Benjamin said.

Lorrie Crabill said the group began setting up on Thursday and covered items with tarps. She said as Saturday wore on, the prices would be dropped.

By the end of Sunday, they probably would bag up what's left and sell it for a dollar a bag, Chandler said.

Veno, 75, has participated in all of the local yard crawls.

"I think I've made more this year than I have the other years. About $300 worth," Veno said. "I'm gonna pay off some bills."

Veno said she enjoys having her family together, including her daughter, Melodie Vann, 52, of Maurertown.

"I'm just helping," Vann said. "My job is to watch the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren while everybody else sells."

Mandy Stiltner, 31, who was selling items at her house down the road, summed up the sentiments of many of the sellers.

"It's better to get rid of it than drag it all back in the house," she said.

John Kline, 29, and his wife, Jessica, 26, of Winchester, were shopping for baby items for a boy the couple is expecting Oct. 13. Kline said they purchased a couple of dressers, some baby clothes and a baby-changing station, among other items.

The yard crawl, Kline said, is just what the doctor ordered during these tough economic times.

"Heck, yeah," he said.