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Attention, shoppers! Sales do not come any bigger than this

To anyone who enjoys flea markets, the Highway 127 Corridor Sale, which opens Thursday, must seem like a shoppers' paradise. Dubbed the "World's Longest Yard Sale," it attracts more than 2,000 antique dealers, craftsmen, farm stands, and other vendors every year to display their wares to eager bargain-hunters. The sale was dreamed up in 1987 by a Fentress County, Tenn., executive as a way to lure motorists off busy I-75 to explore the two-lane route that bisects Tennessee and Kentucky. It has grown to the point that many of the hundreds of thousands who flock there book their motel rooms a year in advance, turning the sale into a four-day vacation. Some basic information about the sale:

Dates: Aug. 3-6

Route: US Route 127 from Covington, Ky., to Chattanooga, Tenn., where it switches to Lookout Mountain Parkway, which crosses northwestern Georgia, then continues on various state routes to Gadsden, Ala.

Span: 450 miles

Headquarters: Fentress County Chamber of Commerce, Jamestown, Tenn.

Contact information: (800) 327-3945, or www.127sale.com