Bitterroot Valley 50 Mile Garage Sale sets record attendance (2024)

Anything and everything sat stacked on plastic folding tables and hung on clothing racks along U.S. Highway 93 Friday as sellers displayed their knick knacks in hopes of catching eyes.

This year’s event is the largest recorded in the nine years the sales have run stretching from Lolo to Darby. About 180 garage sales registered for the annual Bitterroot Valley 50 Mile Garage Sale over the weekend, which ran June 28-29.

“And we have people coming,” organizer and owner of the Bitterroot Antique Mall, Rebecca Ryan said. “We had people come from New York, Canada, southern California and northern California, Texas— pretty much you name it, people plan their vacations around it.”

Registering as a garage sale ensures a spot in the online and physical map of sale locations and secures the signature bright orange sign that alerts passersby of a sale. The number of registered booths also doesn’t include “piggyback” sales. That’s the one or two extra garage sales hopping onto family or friends’ set-ups.

The forms the sales took were about as unique as the items being sold. The displays varied from clusters of tents and overhangs along the roadside to homes located miles away down dirt roads.

Just outside Lolo, a handcrafted wooden sign pointed up the rural road with "this is the big one" painted on it.

“Bet you haven’t seen a porta potty at one of these garage sales yet,” seller Jerry Slater said.

Partnering with other neighbors and local community members, the Slaters have turned their garage sale into their own sort of event. A roll of caution tape and bright orange signs split the tents for the sales outside while a cheer team sold water and hot dogs as a fundraiser below.

In years past, the group rented out the DeSmet Public School gymnasium for yard sales. Since they moved to the new location they’ve tried to keep it community-based, Slater added.

“If we're not having fun, if we're not joking with people, then you'll lose something,” Slater said. “We're gonna make money. We're not worried about it… many, many of these people tell us we were here last year. That's cool. That makes you feel good.”

In the parking lot of the Sweets Barn in Lolo, sellers started setting up as early as 6 a.m. on Friday. By midday, the piles of objects and antiques had shrunk but were far from completely gone.

Underneath the mix of tents, Natalia Suprunchik gave a buyer change for a five dollar bill before returning to fold a pile of clothes on display in front of her. Growing up in Lolo, this year marked her third as a seller.

“It's kind of a unique way to get rid of a couple of things that just keep laying around your house,” she said. “I guess for the people that live out in the middle of nowhere, it's nice to kind of come down here and have this space.”

Across the parking lot, a pair from Missoula weighed the pros and cons of bringing home a cheaply-priced pottery vase.

“We were literally driving to another location this way and then we saw this,” Keilin Huang said, motioning around to the booths. “This one is good. Like there’s a lot of curb appeal.”

Huang held a pair of new hunting boots she was considering. She debated whether she really needed them, but pointed out how new they looked.

“It’s like treasure hunting,” Willa Zhang said next to her. “I honestly don't need anything, but I'm just here to take a look.”

With this year’s booth consisting of colorful rings and jewelry, Anna Finch has been a yard seller for over 20 years.

“What’s crazy is people actually come from out of state to see us and these things specifically,” Finch added. “I actually have met some people from Idaho because they're returning customers. I think it's just really amazing people come back to regular vendors that they know.”

Another large part of the seller base consists of resellers. These are antique store owners who comb through booths and sales to build inventory for their own shops. Usually, they’ll haul back trailers full of items back home.

For the two days, it’s not uncommon to see cars parked back to back lined up against U.S. Highway 93 stretching from town to town.

“It's good for my business, but I think it's really good for all the businesses in the valley,” Ryan added. “It's obviously great for the restaurants and the hotels and the gas stations. I think it's just a great thing for everyone involved.”