Highway 25 traffic to pick up Thursday as 100-mile Yard Sale begins

The 100-Mile Yard Sale begins Thursday. Though a threat of rain looms over the region, vendors are ready to line up along Highway 25 between Jackson and Kennett, Missouri, for the 18th annual Memorial Day weekend event.

Among the vendors expected to participate in the event are the United Methodist Women at New McKendree United Methodist Church. For the last three years, the group held its yard sale at the uptown location on High Street, but this year it’s returning to its location on Hope Street, just off Highway 25.

Julie Combs of New McKendree United Methodist Church said the group is looking forward to returning to the south campus, where it will be “on the beaten path.”

Hundreds of vendors will sell their wares, and thousands of shoppers are expected to travel the highway in search of treasure. But the extra activity causes safety concerns because of the stop-and-go nature of the traffic and pedestrians.

The Missouri Department of Transportation urges drivers to use extreme caution when driving along Highway 25.

“It’s a fun weekend that people look forward to each year,” MoDOT traffic engineer Craig Compas said in a news release. “But we want people to remember that there’s more traffic and more congestion along Route 25 this weekend than any other, and drivers need to keep that in mind.”

MoDOT plans to place signs in locations along Highway 25 to help alert drivers of the unusual traffic patterns and to promote safe driving practices.

But for those uninterested in yard sales, the safest driving practice may be to avoid the area.

“If you’re not interested in yard sale-ing, don’t get on Highway 25,” Carol Roberts of the Dexter (Missouri) Chamber of Commerce said. “Sometimes yard salers get real excited and just stop right in the middle of the road.”

The five-day event begins Thursday morning and continues through Monday.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

Highway 25 between Jackson, Mo., and Kennett, Mo.