Highway 38 Sale goes with the flow

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PENDLETON — It has rained during the Highway 38 Sale many times before, but nothing like it did on the first day of the two-day sale this year, at least according those who helped run the perennial Pendleton First United Methodist Church sale.

“It’s always been outside — well, until this year,” said Jim Coyle, a Pendleton resident and church member who serves as a sale helper.

 

Pendleton First United Methodist Church volunteer Jim Coyle marks a couch as sold on Friday, May 5, the first day of the two-day Highway 38 Sale that was marked by heavy rains. Scott Slade / Times-Post
Pendleton First United Methodist Church volunteer Jim Coyle marks a couch as sold on Friday, May 5, the first day of the two-day Highway 38 Sale that was marked by heavy rains. Scott Slade / Times-Post

The Highway 38 Sale took place Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6. The sale is billed as a rummage event stretching from Noblesville to New Castle and beyond, and Pendleton is a big stop on the route, with parts of Pendleton Avenue closed offering booths and food vendors. Many residents in neighborhoods also set up garage sales, taking advantage of the increased bargain hunter traffic.

Fortunately for the church, it has a big indoor space that could be used for the rummage when it became obvious last week that Friday would be a soggy one.

“This was the wettest it’s ever been,” said Roger Gust, another church volunteer. “Fortunately we have inside facilities.”

And, he said, thanks to the advance weather warning, the church was able to get signs up outside notifying passers-by of the shift of venue. The word got out, and the shoppers came out.

“It’s been good,” Gust said of the business, despite the inclement conditions.

Others around town said the same thing — that while Saturday’s weather was much nicer for rummagers, the downpours on Friday didn’t deter shoppers, who arrived early on Friday looking for deals.

This might not have been the case everywhere along the sale route.

Joyce Bernard of Anderson said she would have been working a sale in Markleville if the rain had not caused it to shut down. Instead, she came to Pendleton to shop.

“I just have to go looking,” Bernard said. “I bought some nice things, this and that, miscellaneous, Halloween stuff.”

Joyce Bernard of Anderson shops at rummage sales in Pendleton on Friday, May 5, during the Highway 38 Sale.
Joyce Bernard of Anderson shops at rummage sales in Pendleton on Friday, May 5, during the Highway 38 Sale.

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