Fentress Co. Prepared For Economic Boost During 127 Yard Sale

Fentress County expects to see an economic boost during the 2019 Highway 127 Corridor Yard Sale this weekend.

Leann Smith is the executive director of Fentress County’s Chamber of Commerce. She said tourists from across the country visit the area every year looking for bargains.

“We get people off of the interstate system and onto the rural back roads of America, and that has worked successfully over the years,” Smith said. “Of course, that gives a lot more attention to these little areas and little towns along the route. It really has worked to provide some good economic boosts to the communities during the event.”

Smith said local businesses and residents benefit and even partner-up to take advantage of the annual event.

“All these people that come to the Highway 127 sale, they book our lodging facilities up, shop at our local businesses, eat at our restaurants,” Smith said, “they’ll of course need to get fuel at our local places. So you can see some real indicators just through our sales tax revenue during the week after the Highway 127 sale and the economic stimulus.”

Smith said national media attention focused on the Corridor Sale can also help boost tourism in Fentress County.

“Almost every year [we’ve] had HGTV within the last 15 years or so come in and do some featured stories on the event as well,” Smith said. “For Fentress County, which is a distressed community here in the state of Tennessee, you can’t buy that type of marketing.”

The Highway 127 Corridor Sale kicked-off Thursday and runs through Sunday. The event began in Jamestown in 1987 and stretches the entire length of Highway 127 from Addison, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama.