Peaches to Beaches vendors as varied as the items

The “Peaches To The Beaches” annual 220-mile yard sale, stretching from Barnesville to Brunswick along U.S. Highway 341, is getting bigger each year.

In Perry alone, 125 vendors signed up for the two-day event, which closes at 6 p.m. today (Saturday).

This is the 12th year for the event, said Tara Poole, general sales manager at the Perry Convention and Visitors Bureau. Vendors and visitors come from far and wide to either sell or hunt for that special item.

Setting up shop, so to speak, in the parking lot of Eastgate shopping center were sisters Joyce Loflin and Deborah Fuller doing business as, naturally, “2 Sisters.”

This was their eighth year participating but their first year in Perry, said Loflin.

“We were in Hawkinsville, but there is more traffic in Perry,” said Loflin.

“We sell vintage, repurposed items such as furniture, ‘shabby chic’ material,” said Fuller. “Our goal is to not to take back anything.”

Closer to downtown, Nicole Culverhouse from Warner Robins was getting ready for her first time at the sale. Her specialty was Young Living essential oils, she said.

“I’m inclined to share, and I just fell in love with the product,” Culverhouse said. “It’s another way to go natural, and I like to educate people in healthy living.”

When not dealing in natural products, Culverhouse, a Colombian native, earns her living as an inspirational speaker.

Kathy Cirilli of Musella says she sells “a lot of everything, something for everybody” with her daughter’s blown glass creations.

“I repurpose liquor bottles into lamps and such, and hopefully somebody will take a liking to them,” Cirilli said.

Setting up right next to her were Dustin and Tony Mathis of Macon with multiple tables of what they called tactical gear, self-defense gear. Tony Mathis said he’s been selling to the public after selling to the government for about 30 years.

“There is a big demand; who doesn’t want their home to be safe?” he asked, adding he has been at gun shows in Eastman and Perry and does a good business.

Clothing, kitchen appliances, homemade crafts, furniture and knick-knacks seemed to dominate the area on Main Street right above Ball Street.

Another first-time seller was Terri Smith of Perry and daughter Savannah Smith, a senior at Perry High School who happily found out this week she was accepted at Valdosta State University.

“At first we were told there were no openings, but on our way back to the car we got a call from them and were told there were openings,” Savannah said.

“This is so very nice,” said mother Terri. “We’ve done a lot of yard sales and can do this all day long.”

Savannah said she hopes to earn a nursing degree and find out what makes the body have diseases.

“My father died of a heart attack last July, and there were a lot of other health issues he was having at the time,” she said. “I just want to know and maybe find a way of dealing with them.”

Shoppers were beginning to fill the streets Friday morning. Angela Musten of Fredericksburg, Va., had just got out of the car with friend Brenda Bradley of Savannah.

“This is my first time at the sale,” Musten said.

Bradley said she’s been here a couple of times, and in the past has started in Brunswick and worked her way inland.

“Perry is the best place for us, and we love the people we meet here,” she said.

Bradley has a particular item in mind this go-round.

“Right before we left I asked my husband what did he want,” she said, “and he told me any crazy old tool would do. So I’m looking for old woodworking or other kind of tool.”

Back at the Eastgate site, Lavern Pate from Perry is participating in her 11th sale, selling clothes in adult and junior sizes. She was working with friend Leight Vaughn from Warner Robins.

“I hope for a lot of traffic. The more the better,” she said. “Perry is fortunate to have a site like this parking lot with 341 running beside it.”

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