Sales Along 84 Very Successful
Beautiful weather and hundreds of vendors allowed the third annual Sales Along 84 event to experience its best year ever this past weekend.
Event founder Lavelle Evans said thousands of people came to LaSalle Parish to visit this area’s large selection of yard sale vendors that stretched from Tullos to Whitehall selling everything from vintage antiques and homemade items to plain old junk.
“It really has been the best one yet,” Evans said Saturday, the last day of the three-day event held September 4-6. “And it wasn’t just here in LaSalle. We’ve received reports from all along the route, and everyone is recording large crowds and huge profits.”
At Evans’ business in Whitehall, multiple vendors were set up and were busy all three days.
On Saturday before noon, one mother and her two daughters made the trip from Lafayette specifically to visit Tillman Corley’s honey stand to get some of his famous lip balm.
“I’m sorry, I’m completely sold out,” Corley told the disappointed trio. He instead offered them some other items and even threw in some free merchandise for their effort in coming to LaSalle.
“It’s that type of hospitality that we have here in LaSalle that keeps people coming back,” Evans said. “It’s our people that make the difference and people will travel from all over the nation to be a part of an experience just like that – experiences where they are treated kindly. You don’t get that in other parts of America.”
At every vendor location, it was busy all three days. In fact, some vendors had to close and not set up for the final day due to the fact they had run out of merchandise.
Sites where there were multiple vendors in one location seemed to fair the best, as the shoppers enjoyed stopping one time to causally strolling past the different vendors looking at the varied items for sale.
Vendor Joy Bradford noted she had customers from all over visit her location and in her opinion, it was a “resounding success.”
“We had customers from Kentucky, Fort Worth, Arkansas, Baton Rouge and just about everywhere in between,” she said Saturday. “We did very well financially but more importantly, we met a great many wonderful people. And so many people who remembered us and sought us out for the second or third year. The immediate economic impact of the Sales Along 84 benefits us now…the long-term benefits are more important.”
For most local residents who do not operate yard sales as part of a business, they do not have to collect sales taxes. But that doesn’t mean the local economy isn’t affected by the thousands of dollars that were collected as part of Sales Along 84.
“All of our local people will spend the money they made mostly here in LaSalle Parish, and on those items, sales tax will be paid,” Evans said. “Any time people have more money to spend impacts our local economy, but Sales Along 84 also contributes in many other ways.”
Restaurants and other businesses located along the route saw a tremendous volume of customers during the three days and most food truck vendors sold out of food each day.
Whether it was Loves Lighthouse Ministries in Tullos, Searcy Y Stop in Searcy, Finders Keepers in Trout, various locations in Jena including downtown businesses and the Jena Town Hall, or the Whitehall Mall and Whitehall United Pentecostal Church, there were always people at the locations shopping.
While a short thunderstorm appeared early Saturday morning, it did not damper the number of people coming to LaSalle for the sales.
“It rained Saturday morning but by the 10 a.m. start time, people were already shopping,” Evans said. “We tried to tell people that even if it rained, the people are coming. And boy did they.”
Once the short rain left the area and the sun was shining bright, traffic through LaSalle Parish was at a virtual stand-still at many vendor locations.
There were reports of vehicle wrecks throughout the three days and several close calls as cars slowed to a crawl or sometimes stopped in the road looking at vendors or trying to find a parking spot.
Downtown Jena was packed Saturday throughout the day with cars, probably the most vehicle traffic the small town has seen on a Saturday in a long time. Shoppers arrived in the parish by way of cars, trucks, trucks pulling trailers, box trucks and large vans carrying a number of people.
Evans said it wasn’t just LaSalle Parish that experienced great success during Sales Along 84.
“We have heard from locations from Texas to Mississippi and everyone is reporting an outstanding three days,” he said. “In Monticello, MS, the entire town went ‘all-in’ for a festival type atmosphere, and they said there were thousands of people there.”
He also noted that some traveled the entire route during the three days, some 540 miles, stopping at vendor locations all along the way.
“Some folks started in Monticello, MS early Thursday morning and made it to LaSalle on Friday afternoon. They are working their way all the way to Mexia, TX,” the founder said. “We are seeing a lot do that, so those that stayed open even after the designated closing time of 5 p.m. are seeing sales.”
He said the event has really gotten momentum now and he can’t wait to see what next year will look like.
“It’s just gotten huge now,” Evans said. “And as word spreads, so will the number of vendors along the route. We are really looking for an even greater number of vendors along the route next year, based on the success of this one.”
As Evans visited with people Saturday in his customary fashion, he paused to reflect on just how big it has become. Sales Along 84 began as a dream for him after he had been a part of similar events throughout other parts of the United States.
“I knew it would work here because of our people,” said. “It’s our people that make the difference and that’s the reason so many come back year after year. Sure, they like the thrill of ‘junkin’,” but the real reason they return is because of the experience and hospitality they receive while here.”
The event was so successful that many vendors are asking the Sales Along 84 committee to consider having a second Sales Along 84 event in the spring.
Whether or not that will occur will have to be determined at a later date, as Evans and everyone else who worked the long hours last weekend will need a few days to recover.
“It was great and very successful, but I can tell you we are all exhausted,” he said. “Exhausted in a good way though!”
