Hordes of bargain hunters follow the yard sale trail

You'll have to forgive Mary Teichow for appealing to the forces that determine the weather.

"We will be praying to the Good Lord for good weather," said Teichow, who owns Teichow's Treasures in Avoca and who is the organizer and founder of the M-29 to M-25 Antique Yard Sale Trail.

The event, which features more than 150 miles of yard and garage sales along the shores of Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and Lake Huron, will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"This year it's New Baltimore and it goes right up the shoreline over to Sebewaing," Teichow said.

"It's the same same road, just a little confusing — a little trick the state played."

She said the event, which brings people from throughout the state, from Canada and from the upper Midwest to the Thumb, is in its 15th year.

"My husband and myself, our family, we took the big trip down south and we did the big Route 127 Yard Sale," she said.

That yard sale now covers nearly 700 miles, starting on US 127 in Addison Township, a community in Lenawee County, and ending four states later in Gadsen, Alabama.

"We spent six days and only got a third of the way through Tennessee," Teichow said. "We never saw Alabama."

She said she brought the concept back to the Blue Water Antique Dealers

"I threw it out there and the membership supported me and we got it to work," she said.

The event, she said, brings people to the Thumb where they spend money.

"It’s just kind of blossomed into this whole shoreline thing as far as the Thumb goes," Teichow said.

"I’m proud that we have such a beautiful area. It’s like a well-kept secret. Every little area has something to discover."

St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said people traveling along M-29 and M-25 this weekend, whether they're hunting for bargains or trying to get somewhere, need to be patient and careful and aware of their surroundings.

"Picture the first day of school with school buses and kids darting in and out" he said. "It's 100 times that.

"It's a time when you have to be super aware of your surroundings."

He said the concerns are not only pedestrians zipping across the highway with their eyes on a box of slightly used $2 shoes, but "they turn in front of cars."

"You have to have patience, which comes with age and wisdom and lots of decaf," he said.

"Slow down. There's a lot of people on foot and their minds are on that garage sale."

Teichow recommends people concentrate on the right side of the road whether they're headed north or south — and to have someone riding shotgun so the driver can keep his eyes on the road.

She said going to garage sales is "all about the hunt."

"When my girls were in college that is how I outfitted their dorm rooms, through yard sales," she said. "I had one at Michigan State and one at Central Michigan."

No matter what you're looking for, "it’s out there somewhere along the trail," she said.

"You never know what’s going to be out there." 

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.