Pickin’ Time on 59 starts Thursday

Buyers, sellers required to wear masks

SILOAM SPRINGS — Yard sales will be popping up all along Arkansas 59 starting on Thursday for the annual Pickin’ Time on 59.

The multi-community yard sale, which stretches from Siloam Springs to the Missouri line, is planned for Thursday through Saturday, according to volunteer Siloam Springs site coordinator Kathy Turner.

This year, buyers and sellers will be required to wear face masks and the yard sales will be spread out this year to encourage social distancing, she said.

The sale includes the communities of Siloam Springs, Gentry, Decatur, Gravette and Sulphur Springs, Turner said. Each town has at least one or more sites for anyone to set up a yard sale. Some sites are free but most have a reservation fee to help pay for portable restrooms and advertisements, she said.

Buyers have not only discovered Pickin’ Time on 59, but are returning year after year, Turner said. Buyers come from Joplin, Mo., Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Tahlequah, Okla., Tulsa,

Okla., and Stilwell, Okla., to take part in the sale, she said. They contribute to the Siloam Springs economy by staying in local hotels and eating at local restaurants, she said.

Siloam Springs has at least three large yard sale sites along with several smaller sales along Arkansas 59, from the intersection of U.S. 412 to the big curve going into Gentry, Turner said.

Anyone can have a yard sale along Arkansas 59 with permission from the landowner, but sellers are asked to provide parking off of the highway, Turner said. All advertisements for any yard sale along the highway are already paid for by the committee of each town.

All kinds of items could be sold, including homemade or repurposed furniture, plants, lawnmowers, art, jewelry, cars, rocks, antiques, fruit and vegetables, local honey, pop bottles, picture frames, construction surplus, wind chimes, collectibles, lawn art, office furniture, field tractors, car parts, marbles, arrowheads, sports equipment, horse tack, cowboy boots and more.

Live animals of any kind cannot be sold, including chickens, goats, sheep, dogs, cats, birds and snakes, she said.

For more information, including updates and pictures

(File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette) A seller shows customers a large piece of artwork during the 2018 Pickin’ Time on 59 in Siloam Springs.

(File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette) Darl Patterson shows some of the lamps and cast iron skillets he is selling during the 2019 Pickin’ Time on 59 in Siloam Springs.