RISON - Those selling and those buying will be keeping an eye on the weather this weekend as the Great South Arkansas Junk Hunt gets underway Thursday through Sunday, April 3-6, at locations across southern Arkansas.
The weather has been a major point of conversation as people prepare for what is essentially a series of rummage sales held across several counties in South Arkansas, including Cleveland County.
Forecasts were calling for rain to begin Wednesday afternoon and continue daily through Saturday. Locally, the chance of rain was at 70 percent on Wednesday and better than 90 percent for the next three days.
There have been reports of some people deciding to cancel their sales while other are planning to push ahead despite the weather.
Woodlawn High School, which has held Junk Hunt sales in the past as a fundraiser for various clubs, announced Tuesday that it was canceling this week’s sale due to the weather forecast.
Sweet T Farm, located on Hwy. 63 in southern Jefferson County just past the Cleveland County line, served as an outdoor hub during the fall Junk Hunk, and is planning to serve as a hub during the spring event as well.
However, Ashley Thompson, the owner of Sweet T, said she has already had some vendors back out of due to the weather forecast and her venue being outdoors. She said she had a great turnout of vendors during the fall Junk Hunt.
Meanwhile, those places that can offer vendor spots under cover have seen an uptick in vendor rentals.
Sharon Gray with the Pioneer Village at Rison said she received a call from a vendor from Malvern this week looking for an indoor location to set up. As of Tuesday afternoon, Gray said she had one of the exhibit buildings completely filled and about half of another.
The Junk Hunt first started as the Historic Hwy. 35 Junk Hunt in the spring of 2015, running from Benton to Dermott. A second route was added - a loop that basically ran from Pine Bluff to Warren and back using Hwy. 63 and Hwy. 79 - was added about two years later.
Jennifer Via, who created and organized the Hwy. 35 Junk Hunt, said she began to receive calls from other communities just outside the route wanted her to expand the trail to include them as well.
In 2023, Via launched what is now the Great South Arkansas, covering much of southern Arkansas. This latest expansion now includes Cleveland, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Dallas, Drew, Jefferson, Lincoln, Ouachita and Union counties.