CORNVILLE — What started with a handful of neighbors holding yard sales together 29 years ago on West Ridge Road has grown.
And grown.
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A decade ago, it was the Six-Mile Yard Sale, but now it’s a 10-Mile Yard Sale that stretches all the way into Skowhegan and on every side road in-between.
And it’s happening this weekend.
The Cornville yard sale is a bumper-to-bumper shopping spree on lawns, in barns and on vacant lots that are transformed into one long flea market.
It runs from Route 150 in Cornville to U.S. Route 2 by the Kennebec River in Skowhegan — slightly more than 10 miles. Last year the yard sales extended into Athens and to other streets and roads in Skowhegan.
Skowhegan officials also are watching the recent growth, but with traffic congestion and safety problems in mind.
“Our major concern is to ensure that the event is safe,” said Skowhegan Town Manager John Doucette Jr., who met last week with Road Commissioner Gregory Dore and Deputy Police Chief Dale Lancaster to establish a plan for traffic control.
Lancaster said three patrol officers will be on duty, including one specifically assigned to the area around Malbons Mills Road and Dr. Mann Road, where traffic is the worst.
Doucette said if the crowds and traffic are the same as recent years, then emergency vehicles will have difficulty there.
“We had ‘no-parking’ areas up there, and people would run over the parking signs,” Doucette said. “People were parking in the street and blocking traffic, so you couldn’t get through. It will be the same thing this year; there will be no-parking areas. It’s a safety issue for the town.”
The Skowhegan Highway Department will post no-parking zones on the north side of Dr. Mann Road and Robins Court. Also posted will be the south side of Timberview Drive and the east side of Malbons Mills Road.
The hours of the yard sales are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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