Highway 141 Garage Sale 2026: The Iowa Highway 141 Route Guide

The Highway 141 Garage Sale follows one Iowa highway clear across the western half of the state. For about 177 miles, driveway sales, yard sales, and small-town setups line Iowa Highway 141 from Grimes on the Des Moines side, west through Perry, Coon Rapids, Manning, and Denison, out to Mapleton and Sloan near the Missouri River. The 2026 edition runs Friday, August 7 and Saturday, August 8 — the first full weekend of August, the way it has for more than 20 years.

It is a towns-only event. Twenty-two communities along the route each organize their own sales, so there is no single seller registry to check the night before — and in a typical year the route draws around 350 registered sales once the addresses come in. That is exactly why the plan matters: you are working anchor towns strung along one highway, and knowing which stretches to give your morning to is the difference between a full trunk and a long drive.

The corridor, east to west

Highway 141 runs from the western edge of the Des Moines metro out across open farm country, tracing the Raccoon and Boyer river valleys before it drops toward the Missouri River. The route breaks naturally into an east half and a west half, hinged around Coon Rapids and Manning near the middle.

• Grimes to Perry (east end) — the corridor starts at Grimes on the Des Moines side, then runs through Granger, Woodward, and Bouton to Perry, an old railroad town and the biggest community on the eastern stretch. This end is the closest to the metro, so it draws the heaviest early-morning traffic.
• Dawson to Coon Rapids (the middle) — the route strings through a run of small Greene and Carroll County towns — Dawson, Jamaica, Bagley, Bayard — into Coon Rapids near the center of the corridor. Spread-out farm-town setups; a good stretch to make real ground on.
• Dedham to Denison (the Carroll County hinge) — Dedham, Willey, Templeton, and Manning cluster through Carroll County, then the highway climbs toward Manilla and Denison, the largest town on the western half and a practical place to base or refuel.
• Charter Oak to Sloan (west end) — the highway crosses into the Boyer and Little Sioux valleys through Charter Oak, Ute, Mapleton, Smithland, and Hornick, finishing at Sloan near the Missouri River and Interstate 29. Deep rural addresses fill in below these towns.

The named anchors east to west — the points shoppers use to break the route into sections — run Grimes → Perry → Coon Rapids → Manning → Denison → Mapleton → Sloan, all on Highway 141. Those are the natural places to split a two-day plan.

Two-day strategy — the call you make before Friday

About 177 miles across two days is enough time to work the corridor carefully, but only if you decide your rhythm before you leave home. The middle of the route, around Coon Rapids and Manning, is your hinge. Two ways to run it:

• East half first, then west. Start at Grimes Friday morning, work the Perry end while the metro shoppers are still thick, then push west through the middle towns toward Denison. Take the far-western Boyer valley towns Saturday. This front-loads the busiest stretch and saves a relaxed run to the Missouri River for the second day.
• Base in Denison and radiate. Denison sits toward the western third with lodging and services. Run the western towns one day and drive back east toward the middle the other, returning to the same room each evening — the cleanest logistics on a route this long.

Whichever you pick, decide before you go. The shoppers who try to improvise a 177-mile corridor spend the weekend on Highway 141 instead of in anyone's driveway.

Where the density is

Because each town runs its own sales, the corridor never feels uniformly packed. The bigger towns anchor the heaviest setups, and they are worth building the plan around.

Perry and the eastern end

Perry is the largest town on the eastern half and sits closest to the Des Moines metro, so its blocks tend to draw the thickest early-morning turnout. If you are coming out from the city, this is the stretch to hit first before the crowds thin the tables.

Denison and the western half

Denison is the biggest community west of the middle and a sensible base for working the far end of the route. From there the Boyer valley towns — Charter Oak, Ute, Mapleton, and on toward Sloan — spread the western sales out, so a town like Denison is the efficient place to reset before the last leg.

When to start and what to expect

Most sales open in the morning and run into the afternoon, both days. With a Friday-and-Saturday window, Saturday is the biggest day — more sellers out, more traffic on Highway 141 — while Friday is lighter and less picked-over. Serious shoppers treat Friday morning at the eastern end as the time to get ahead of the crowd.

Coming out from Des Moines: enter at Grimes and work west. Coming down Interstate 29 from Sioux City: start at Sloan and work east toward the middle. Either way, anchor your night toward the center or the Denison end so you are never starting the day with an hour of highway before your first stop.

Cash is the standard. These are driveway, front-yard, and small-town sales along a rural Iowa highway — most sellers won't take a card. Hit an ATM in Perry or Denison before you get out onto the smaller stretches, because the towns in between won't always have one.

What you'll find

The Highway 141 corridor runs through deep rural west-central Iowa — farm country where families have worked the same land for generations and the barns, sheds, and farmhouses are getting cleared out. That means uncurated, honestly-priced inventory.

Vintage cast iron cookware is a standout. These farmstead kitchens cooked on cast iron for generations, and the skillets and pots that turn up are the real, used article — not the cleaned-up, marked-up pieces from a dealer's booth.

Farm and primitive tools come straight out of the outbuildings up and down the route — hand tools, shop tools, and old implements that a working farm accumulates over decades and finally clears.

Depression and pressed glass runs heavy on the small-town estate tables out here, alongside old advertising and vintage kitchenware — the household pieces that come with clearing a place a family has held for years.

Pro tips

• Build your route the night before. There is no master seller list for a towns-only event, so pull up the corridor, pick the anchor towns you are committing to, and set your driving order before you leave. Start at the busy eastern end.
• Base near the middle or in Denison. On a 177-mile route, a base toward the center lets you work either half without a long backtrack. Denison is the practical choice for the western end.
• Bring cash, and plenty of it. Most driveway and front-yard sellers won't take a card. Stock up at an ATM in one of the bigger towns before you head out.
• Watch the addresses fill in. The town anchors show the route now; the individual sale listings are registered closer to the event, so check back as the first weekend of August nears.
• Download offline maps before you leave town. Cell coverage thins out on the open farm-country stretches of Highway 141 between the towns.

FAQ

When is the Highway 141 Garage Sale 2026?

Friday, August 7 and Saturday, August 8, 2026. The sale runs the first full weekend of August each year, with most sales open from morning into the afternoon both days.

What towns are on the route?

East to west along Iowa Highway 141: Grimes, Granger, Woodward, Bouton, Perry, Dawson, Jamaica, Bagley, Bayard, Coon Rapids, Dedham, Willey, Templeton, Manning, Manilla, Denison, Charter Oak, Ute, Mapleton, Smithland, Hornick, and Sloan. The live event map pins all 22 anchor towns.

Is there a full seller list yet?

Not yet. The Highway 141 Garage Sale is a towns-only event — each community organizes its own sales, and the individual addresses are registered closer to the event. The town anchors show the route now; the per-town sale listings fill in as the first weekend of August approaches. The organizers post details at 141sale.com.

How long is the route?

About 177 miles end to end, from Grimes on the Des Moines side west to Sloan near the Missouri River — the full width of west-central Iowa along Highway 141. Most shoppers work it as an east half and a west half over the two days.

When does next year's event happen?

The Highway 141 Garage Sale runs every year on the first full weekend of August. The 2027 edition follows the same annual pattern — we'll update this page when the organizer confirms the exact dates.

We'll see you on the road.