BLYTHWOOD/FAIRFIELD – Starting early Friday morning and continuing through the afternoon on Saturday, the road to Ridgeway – Highway 21 – was the apparent mecca for the 2024 Big Grab with vendors setting up shop along most of the road between Blythewood and Ridgeway.
The weather was mostly good and the vendors were varied.
Traffic crawled more along Highway 21 than in Blythewood or Winnsboro as shoppers parked to peruse the pop-up roadside ‘restaurants’ and used-goods vendors. And the pickin’s were unique: a stuffed bobcat, a print of a classic George Washington portrait, wigs, honey, Christmas trees, bottles, barbeque, baby bouncers, roosters and rakes.
Purity Lodge’s large green space between the lodge and Highway 21 was covered by colorful tents and tempting merchandise.
The yard sale life of chairs
At last year’s Big Grab sale, two upholstered side chairs that had been purchased for use in The Voice’s Blythewood newspaper office sold for $10 each. The chairs had been purchased about six years ago for $20 each at the annual yard sale held in Blythewood to benefit the Fairfield County Animal Shelter. The pair showed up again this year along the road to Ridgeway, and this time the price was back up to $20 each.
Winnsboro
While organizers of the annual blowout Big Grab sale at First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro say they didn’t make the money haul they made in past years, they also said they didn’t have as much for sale this year either. Overall, most vendors say the town was quieter than usual for the Big Grab. However, the farmer’s market and a couple of other hot spots around Winnsboro say they did a brisk business most of the day on Saturday.
Ridgeway
Ridgeway’s cotton yard was packed with vendors selling a rich mixture of crazy and cool items. One booth was hawking a giant gold 20-or-so-pound ‘World Heavyweight Championship’ belt that was suspect, having neither a date nor the name of the winner on it. Still, most shoppers found the belt amusing and fun and snapped pictures of it. Though at last look, no one had snapped the bargain belt up.
Another vendor was selling a ‘Babe Ruth’- signed baseball, equally suspect, since the ball appeared to be manufactured after Babe Ruth lived. There were other, finer deals such as when a local man slapped down a thick stack of cash for an antique dining table and chairs, then quickly loaded them into a trailer and drove off happy with his purchase.
Blythewood
In Blythewood, Liz Humphries’ parking lot was full all day with vendors and shoppers, including a well-stocked, low-priced supply of animal items.
Churches, including Bethel Baptist Church, sold delicious sweets as well as goods in the church’s parking lot.
The weather held on Saturday, and the crowds kept coming. It might not have been the most profitable Big Grab in the history of Blythewood, Ridgeway, and Winnsboro, but it was clearly fun and profitable for many families, churches and others who had something for sale …as usual.
