On the road again: Texas Longest Yard Sale is back after pandemic

Yet another event brought to a screeching halt by the pandemic was the annual Texas Longest Yard Sale, which launched in 2015 and was gaining momentum when COVID forced its cancellation in 2020 and 2021.

The event, made up of multiple second-hand sales along U.S. 281 between Brownsville and Texas Hill Country, is back for 2022 and scheduled for May 6-7, according to Yolanda Almaguer, the driving force behind it.

“I wasn’t sure, but people started messaging me asking ‘are we having it?’” she said.

Not quite as many communities are participating this year, said Almaguer, who conceived the idea after seeing parts of the 824-mile-long Historic National Road Sale, which runs from Maryland to Missouri, and the World’s Longest Yard sale, which spans 690 miles from Alabama to Michigan.

“Now we’re having to start from scratch,” she said. “There has been a lot of positive feedback, but George West, Premont, Three Rivers, they didn’t join this year.”

Almaguer said she’s determined to build the event back up again at least to pre-pandemic levels and said U.S. 281 is the “perfect corridor” for this type of thing, adding that Brownsville has been onboard since the beginning. Lopez Supermarket at 384 U.S. 281/Military Highway, for example, has allowed vendors to set up every year the Texas Longest Yard Sale has taken place and is doing so again this year, she said.

Another business encouraging vendors to set up is Smoking Joe’s BBQ at Zacatal Colonia in Hidalgo County, Almaguer said.

“He allows people to set up outside, and he gets sales from all that,” she said.

Not too far west from Smoking Joe’s is Relampago, where another sale will be going on at the site of a shuttered store, where the owner allows vendors to set up for free, Almaguer said, adding that the man told her he plans to install a port-a-potty for vendors and be there on-site the night before to keep an eye on things if any vendors want to set up early.

Yolanda Almaguer, creator of the Texas Longest Yard Sale, is shown with a poster and T-shirt promoting the event, which is back this weekend after a two-year pause due to the pandemic. (Courtesy photo)

“It’s really neat,” she said. “Their enthusiasm is cool. … He too has been with us since the beginning. They just clean up the area.”

Sales will also be happening this weekend at El Ranchita, La Paloma, Bluetown and Santa Maria, plus a “big one in Edinburg,” Almaguer said.

“And then Blanco and Spring Branch over here in the Hill Country,” she said. “I really thought we were working it up with Three Rivers and those in between. In one of them, I think it was Premont, the lady that helped it together passed away. They didn’t have anybody to take it over. I’m going to work with them during this year to see if they can get something going again.”

Almaguer said she’s looking for people in other communities along the route to help her find space for vendors to set up, free or otherwise, and noted that “small businesses will benefit from this if they have the space.” A “go-to person” in Edinburg or Hidalgo would come in very handy, she said.

Even if the vendors are fewer this year, there is still plenty of enthusiasm surrounding this weekend’s event, probably in part because it’s another sign that things are getting back to normal after two-plus years of pandemic, she said.

“I started a little later because I wasn’t sure, with all these variants coming on,” Almaguer said. “It was like, masks, no masks, and all of this stuff. You didn’t know. But people kind of picked up my hope by texting me or emailing me and messaging. I though, well, let’s give it a try. Yeah, there’s excitement.”

For more information or to help, contact Yolanda Almaguer at (956) 312-1900, [email protected], or by messaging her via the Texas Longest Yard Sale Facebook page.