Despite heavy rains in the forecast for the next few days, vendors at the St. Augustine Catholic Church are staying optimistic about this week's World's Longest Yard Sale, they say.
A cold front approaching the Tennessee Valley is expected to stall near the Cleveland area, WRCB-TV News Channel 3 chief meteorologist Paul Barys said.
"It's going to sort of wade back and forth," he said. "Those little ripples of energy are going to move along it, and it's going to create some really heavy thunder storms and rain amounts."
The main concern for this system is lightning and heavy rainfall, rather than strong winds and hail, Barys said. Areas east of Chattanooga will get the most rain.
But with or without rain, the church's yard sale - proceeds of which will go toward the church's school in Haiti - will still go on.
"We have a huge circus tent," said Allen Vessels, a board member of the Signal Mountain-based American Haitian Foundation. "We can sell, rain or shine."
He said organizers have a separate circus tent that houses furniture that's been elevated by wooden pallets to prevent any water damage. And whatever isn't under the tent is covered with heavy plastic if it starts raining, he said.
"Once people get out of their cars, people can shop literally for hours and not run out of things to look at," Vessels said. "Very often, when it's raining, we're one of the few sites we'll stop at, because it's all covered."
The World's Longest Yard Sale, which runs Thursday to Sunday, stretches a 690-mile route from Michigan to Alabama.
And aside from the weather, another concern for vendors and organizers are traffic delays caused by road construction on Taft Highway, Vessels said.
The highway will be undergoing utility work until Aug. 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the installation of a gas main for a new subdivision, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Traffic will be slow-going and drivers should expect lengthy delays while crossing Signal Mountain due to road construction on Taft Highway.
"We think there may be some people that will go around Walden's Ridge all together," Vessels said. "But our experience has been, 'People will come.' We're optimistic."
"We sort of put it in the Lord's hands and do everything we can do," he said. "That's kind of the way we look at it."
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