2011 - 2012 State Director's Report

All members and officers of the Lincoln Highway Association develop an annual report. I included multimedia into mine for this year, so I created a Web page instead of a regular document on paper. In Illinois, we had a lot more fun at car shows and parades this year, so I thought the Director's Report should be fun, too. I posted my Illinois report here online, because I included video clips, although I will not be quitting my day job to become a videographer or star in any TV ads:

http://illinoislincolnhighway.tripod.com/2011-2012Report.html

Bed and Breakfast in DeKalb

For anyone traveling through Illinois, this bed and breakfast is just a few blocks off Lincoln Highway in DeKalb, which means it is away from the train tracks:

http://www.parksidebedandbreakfast.com

Major Abrahm Lincoln Event, February 11th

For those who love Abraham Lincoln or Civil War history, there is a chance to help make history, in a simultaneous reading for a world record attempt, on this 150th anniversary year of the Civil War:

http://extras.sj-r.com/lincolndepot/

Yard Sale Signs

Check out the story about yard sale signs in the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/garage-sale-warrior/2010/08/sign-sign-everwhere-a-sign-its-all-about-the-arrow.html

Lincoln Highway Buy-Way

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Kay Shelton, State Director
Illinois Lincoln Highway Association
1006 N. 15th St.
DeKalb, IL 60115
Phone: 815-748-7211
E-mail: lincolnhighway2010@yahoo.com

Last Call for Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Sales

It is not too late to join in the annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way! Anyone along or close to the Lincoln Highway is welcome to have a yard sale or a garage sale, anytime Thursday through Saturday, August 5, 6, and 7. Participants can join in for as little as $8, which includes a sign, a map and description on the Web site, and we will find your GPS coordinates for those driving. To participate, complete the form found at: http://illinoislincolnhighway.tripod.com/yardsale.html or call the Lincoln Highway Association National Tourism Headquarters in Franklin Grove during the day, including weekends, at: 815-456-3030.

For those looking for clusters of sales, both Ashton and Fulton return to the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way with town-wide sales. The DeKalb Area Women’s Center at 1021 State Street returns with a parking lot sale Thursday through Saturday with indoor locations Friday and Saturday if it rains. Look for a vehicle representing the DeKalb Area Women’s Center and the Lincoln Highway Association Illinois Chapter President, Wayne Silvius, driving his award-winning antique car in the Lincoln Highway Parade on June 30th, at 7:00 p.m. in DeKalb.

The Lincoln Highway Buy-Way annual sale began in 2005 in Ohio and generated a conservatively estimated $10,000,000 to the local economy in Ohio last year, not counting individual sales. People from at least fourteen states visited Ohio’s sales in 2009. Sales for 2010 can be found along the Lincoln Highway in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Begun in 1913, the Lincoln Highway was the first coast-to-coast improved highway. The Lincoln Highway begins in Times Square, New York City, travels through fourteen states, and ends over 3,389 miles later near the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco.

The $10,000,000+ Yard Sale

Yes, you read that right, the $10,000,000 yard sale. Last week at the Lincoln Highway Association annual conference in Dixon, one guest speaker was Mike Hocker, the Executive Director of the of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, and one of the key organizers of the annual Buy-Way in Ohio. Mike, who says he does not like yard sales, estimates the annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale brings in an extra $10,000,000 to the economy in Ohio, mostly for gas and lodging, without counting the yard sale profits themselves. Mike convinced the Ohio Department of Transportation to conduct three traffic counts during the yard sale last year. Compared to a ‘normal’ weekend, the traffic is up on yard sale weekend.

The first year, there were 250 sales in Ohio along the Lincoln Highway and it grew to around 1,000 yard sales last year. He and his wife traveled the length of the state, saying hello to as many of those hosting sales as possible. The Buy-Way in Ohio is a well-organized event that takes months of planning by volunteers, advertisers, businesses, and yard sale enthusiasts. An April edition of American Profile magazine which appeared in many of the Sunday papers all across the United States, featured an interview with Mike about the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale.

So many people come to Ohio from other states that Hocker and his group decided to move the annual event to so people can go to both the Highway 127 Corridor Sale and the Lincoln Highway sale.

In DeKalb, for those who do not have garage or yard space to hold a sale, the DeKalb Area Women’s Center will host space in their parking lot. For $5 a parking space, people can rent a parking space on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Call 815-758-1351 or e-mail dawc@niu.edu for more information. The rain location will be inside the Women’s Center on Friday and Saturday. Hours will be:

Thursday, August 5, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Friday, August 6, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 7, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

*****

By the way, the Lincoln Highway Association Conference brought in approximately $60,000 to the local Dixon economy, just for hotel rooms, food, tour bus rental, and event costs. That does not include what conference participants spent on food and shopping themselves. The local hotel tax brought in an estimated $2,000+ to Dixon.

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