Williamsburg at odds with U.S. 25 Yard Sale volunteer over city’s participation

The Ninth Annual US 25 Yard Sale, which usually takes place in early June has been rescheduled to Oct. 2-3 and will continue once again across Kentucky with Corbin and London taking part this fall.

However, the portion of the route that went through Williamsburg, which was one of the first cities to take part in it, along with Whitley County, and Campbell and Anderson counties in Tennessee, has been permanently dropped, an organizer said in an e-mail to the News Journal Monday.

At least one Williamsburg official isn’t happy about the reason that has been given for his city being dropped either.

US 25 Yard Sale Volunteer Randy Coffey said in an e-mail that Anderson and Campbell counties in Tennessee, and Williamsburg and Whitley County in Kentucky, were dropped due to a lack of participation.

He said that in Williamsburg’s case, it was also a lack of cooperation.

“This is a pretty simple event – people drag stuff out, price it, people come by and buy it. Williamsburg wanted us to have it on the weekend of their yard sale, didn’t want people ‘peddling’ from their sister-in-law’s property, acted like they were doing us a favor, refused to spend a dime on banners, and we had more questions on how to set up than any 10 other places combined from their area,” Coffey wrote.

He added that in Williamsburg’s case, he felt the city halfway tried, and acted like the yard sale was a problem.

“Only Rocky Top in Anderson County ever really ‘got’ the sale,” Coffey wrote about the Tennessee counties. “I learned a while back – if they want it then it does well. If they don’t care, it soon flops in that town,” Coffey noted.

Suffice it to say that Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison disagrees with Coffey’s explanation for why Williamsburg won’t be taking part in future US 25 yard sales.

Harrison said that while he normally doesn’t answer “crazy accusations,” in this case he thought that he should.

“This person making the statements against our city regarding the US 25 Yard Sale has said a number of falsehoods. I don’t know who he’s talked to that would’ve used the word ‘peddling,’ and I don’t care. If we want to have a yard sale, we will have a yard sale. And to say we didn’t participate is ridiculous,” Harrison said in an e-mail.

He noted that Williamsburg was only one of two cities to participate when the US 25 Yard Sale started in 2012.

“Judy Wigginton from Williamstown was the brainchild and she called me back then to ask if we would get involved. She had the dream to get the US 25 yard sale as big an event as the US 27, and have it run from Florida to Michigan. The first one was from August 16th through the 19th, 2012, and we have participated every year since!” Harrison wrote.

“The guy who sent that email was not even a part of the idea at the time. I have not spoken with this individual in years. When he wanted us to send him money for advertising, I told him we would take care of our own advertising and Gina Hamblin and I have done so every year. (I was not about to just hand over money to someone who is not part of any kind of board or legitimate entity. As far as I know, there is no kind of oversight for the money he is trying to collect.)”

Harrison noted that Williamsburg even suspended its yard sale ordinance so that commercial land—with owners’ permission—could be used during the three days of the US 25 Yard Sale.

“The bottom line is, if we want to have yard sales during those three days, you can bet we will,” he added.

Still a big event

According to the yard sale flier, hundreds of yard sales along a 200-mile stretch of US 25 from Richwood to Corbin will still take place in Georgetown, Richmond, Berea, Mt. Vernon, Livingston, London and Corbin.

Coffey added that Corbin does great and is included in the event’s planning.

Another change is that the yard sale has been reduced to a two-day event this year.

Organizers plan to continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and will follow the governor’s guidelines.

“This is a family friendly, free event. Each community is in charge of planning their own area’s event. We encourage all local clubs, church groups, school and youth league teams, bands and other groups to organize their items and have a great event. Time to get out and celebrate your American Freedom!” Coffey wrote in an e-mail.