US-36 Treasure Hunt 2026: The 400-Mile Kansas Guide

The US Highway 36 Treasure Hunt is the longest yard sale in Kansas. For three days every September it runs the entire width of the state along US-36 — roughly 400 miles from Elwood on the Missouri River, west through thirteen counties of open prairie, out to Saint Francis within sight of the Colorado line. The 2026 edition runs Thursday, September 17 through Saturday, September 19.

It is also the hardest highway sale in the country to plan, and not because of the distance. There is no master list. Every participating town publishes its own separate map, and the US Highway 36 Association links them county by county — so a shopper who wants to know where the sales actually are has historically had to open more than a dozen different maps, in more than a dozen different formats, and copy addresses out by hand.

We did that work. All seventeen town and county maps are merged here into one corridor map: 364 sales with their street addresses, the items each seller listed, and the hours each town published — in one place, in one order, so you can turn it into an actual driving route.

The corridor, east to west

US-36 crosses the top of Kansas as a mostly two-lane highway through farm and ranch country, and the sale breaks naturally into an eastern half and a western half. The towns are the unit of planning here — each one clusters its own sales, and between them you can drive twenty or thirty miles of open prairie with nothing at all.

• Doniphan County — Elwood, Wathena, Troy, Highland. The corridor opens at the Missouri River across from St. Joseph, so this is the closest stretch to a metro and the earliest to fill. Troy and Wathena both run library book sales alongside the driveway setups.
• Nemaha and Brown Counties — Seneca, Baileyville, Sabetha, Fairview, Corning. Seneca is one of the deepest lists on the whole route and its downtown Main Street storefronts take part alongside the houses. Sabetha and little Baileyville add a solid run just north and west.
• Marshall and Washington Counties — Marysville, Washington, Haddam, Morrowville. Marysville is the big anchor of the eastern-middle and posts a long, well-organized list with hours on nearly every stop. Washington County spreads its sales across three small towns.
• Republic County — Belleville, Scandia, Courtland. The busiest concentration in the middle of the state. Belleville alone carries dozens of stops, including a multi-seller building where a dozen separate sellers set up at one address.
• Smith and Phillips Counties — Smith Center, Lebanon, Kensington, Athol, Phillipsburg, Agra, Prairie View. The high-plains middle. Phillipsburg posts one of the largest lists on the route, and Lebanon is the geographic center of the contiguous United States — a genuine roadside landmark to break the drive on.
• Decatur and Rawlins Counties — Oberlin, Norcatur, Atwood, McDonald. Atwood runs a big, tightly-organized downtown sale with indoor venues and outdoor vendors. Oberlin and Norcatur take part as well.
• Cheyenne County — Bird City, Saint Francis. The far west end, and it punches far above its population: Saint Francis posts the single largest list on the entire 400 miles, and many of its sellers open Wednesday.

The named anchors east to west — the points shoppers use to cut the route into sections — run Elwood → Troy → Seneca → Sabetha → Marysville → Belleville → Smith Center → Phillipsburg → Norton → Oberlin → Atwood → Saint Francis. Those are the natural places to split a multi-day plan.

Three-day strategy — pick a stretch, not the whole road

This is the single most important thing to understand about the US-36 Treasure Hunt: you cannot drive all of it. Four hundred miles each way is roughly six hours of pure highway with no stops, so a shopper who tries to cover the whole corridor in three days spends the weekend driving past sales rather than shopping them. Everyone who does this well picks a stretch and works it properly.

• The eastern half — Elwood to Belleville. Roughly 180 miles with the densest run of towns on the route: Seneca, Sabetha, Marysville, Belleville and Scandia all within reach. Best choice if you're coming from St. Joseph, Kansas City, Omaha or Lincoln. Base in Marysville or Belleville.
• The western half — Smith Center to Saint Francis. Roughly 220 miles, fewer towns but two of the biggest lists on the whole sale (Saint Francis and Phillipsburg) plus Atwood. Longer gaps between stops, less competition, and the most farm-and-ranch merchandise. Best if you're coming from Denver, the Colorado front range, or western Nebraska. Base in Phillipsburg or Atwood.
• The middle, worked hard — Belleville, Scandia, Courtland, Smith Center. If you only have one day, Republic County is the highest sales-per-mile on the route. Belleville, Scandia and Courtland sit close together, so you spend your day on foot instead of behind the wheel.

Whichever you choose, commit before Thursday and check each sale's hours on the map. The towns publish genuinely different schedules — some sellers are Saturday-only, plenty close at noon Saturday, and a real number open Wednesday, the day before the event officially starts.

Where the density is

Because each town organizes independently, the corridor is nothing like uniform. A handful of towns carry most of the stops, and they are what you build a plan around.

Saint Francis and the far west

The biggest surprise on the route. Saint Francis sits at the very western end, about as far from a metro as Kansas gets, and it posts the largest single list on the entire 400 miles — a full downtown-and-residential grid of sales, many with Wednesday hours. If you are willing to drive out to the Colorado line, you get the deepest list on the sale with the least competition on it.

Belleville, Scandia and Courtland in the middle

Republic County is the density play. Belleville carries dozens of stops on its own, including a multi-seller building where roughly a dozen sellers each take a table at a single address — effectively a small indoor market inside the yard sale. Scandia and Courtland are a short hop away, with antique-mall buildings and church-and-park group sales joining the driveways.

Phillipsburg and Atwood on the high plains

Both post large, well-documented lists with item detail on nearly every stop, and both are practical overnight bases for working the west. Atwood concentrates much of its sale downtown with indoor venues and outdoor vendors, which makes it unusually walkable for a town this size.

Seneca, Sabetha and Marysville in the east

The eastern anchors, and the easiest stretch to reach from a city. Seneca's list runs deep and includes Main Street storefronts opening for the event; Marysville's list is among the best-documented on the route, with hours on nearly every entry.

When to start and what to expect

The official window is Thursday through Saturday, and Friday is the biggest day — the most sellers open at once. Thursday is lighter but far less picked over, and Saturday thins out through the afternoon as sellers close, with a meaningful number shutting at noon. The wrinkle worth knowing: a number of towns post Wednesday hours, so the genuinely early shopper can get a full day ahead of the crowd.

Mornings are the standard. Most stops open between 7 and 9 a.m. and run into the late afternoon, and on a route this rural, early is when the farm tools and the estate furniture move.

Cash, and more than you think. These are driveway, farmyard and small-town church sales across rural Kansas — most sellers will not take a card, and phone signal is genuinely patchy between towns, so card readers often fail even where a seller has one. Draw cash in one of the bigger towns — Marysville, Belleville, Phillipsburg, Atwood — because the small ones may not have an ATM at all.

Fuel on the corridor, not between it. The gaps out west are real. Fill up in the anchor towns rather than counting on something appearing in the next thirty miles.

What you'll find

This is open prairie farm and ranch country, and the merchandise reflects a part of the world where goods have never cycled through a city antique mall. The item lists the towns published back it up.

Farm, ranch and shop tools are the signature of this route — hand tools, workshop and machine tools, drill presses, table saws, implements and hardware coming straight out of outbuildings that have been accumulating for generations.

Estate and antique furniture turns up constantly, and honestly priced: china cabinets, buffets, dressers, headboards, organs and pianos, plus crocks, lanterns, cream separators and the primitives that come with a working-farm estate.

Vintage glass, kitchen and advertising — pressed and depression glass, cast iron, canning jars, quilts, fabric and yarn, alongside old signage and small-town advertising pieces.

Group and fundraiser sales are a real part of this event: library book sales, church youth groups, community centers and multi-family setups in parks and on basketball courts, usually with baked goods alongside the tables.

Pro tips

• Pick your stretch before Thursday. You cannot shop 400 miles. Choose the eastern half, the western half, or the Republic County middle, and commit — then set your driving order inside it.
• Check each sale's hours, not just the dates. Schedules vary sale by sale across the three days, plenty close at noon Saturday, and some towns open Wednesday. The map carries the hours each town published.
• Base in an anchor town. Marysville or Belleville for the east, Phillipsburg or Atwood for the west. Lodging is limited across the whole corridor, so book early — this event fills the small-town motels.
• Bring cash in small bills. Card readers fail where signal is thin, and most sellers won't have one anyway.
• Download offline maps before you go. Coverage drops out for long stretches between towns, especially west of Smith Center. Build and save your route while you still have service.
• Don't skip the small towns. Baileyville, Courtland, Kensington, Athol and McDonald post only a handful of stops each — and that is exactly where flat-priced farm and estate merchandise tends to sit unpicked.

FAQ

When is the US-36 Treasure Hunt 2026?

Thursday, September 17 through Saturday, September 19, 2026 — three days. The event runs the third Thursday-through-Saturday of September each year. Most sales open in the morning, a number of towns post Wednesday hours, and each sale's own hours are shown on the map.

What towns are on the route?

East to west along US-36: Elwood, Wathena, Troy, Highland, Seneca, Baileyville, Corning, Sabetha, Fairview, Marysville, Washington, Haddam, Morrowville, Belleville, Scandia, Courtland, Lebanon, Smith Center, Kensington, Athol, Phillipsburg, Agra, Prairie View, Norton, Oberlin, Norcatur, Atwood, McDonald, Bird City and Saint Francis — thirteen counties across the full width of Kansas. The live event map pins every posted sale.

Is there one official map of all the sales?

No — and that is the whole difficulty of this event. Each participating town publishes its own separate map, and the US Highway 36 Association links them county by county at ushwy36.com, which means planning a drive normally involves opening more than a dozen maps in different formats. We merge all seventeen of them into a single map here, with each seller's items and open hours where the town supplied them. The town maps keep filling in during the days before the event, and this page refreshes as they do.

How long is the route, and can I drive all of it?

About 400 miles end to end, from Elwood on the Missouri River to Saint Francis near the Colorado line — roughly six hours of driving with no stops at all. Realistically you cannot shop the whole thing in three days. Pick the eastern half, the western half, or work Republic County in the middle, which has the highest concentration of sales per mile.

Which town has the most sales?

Saint Francis, at the far western end, consistently posts the largest single list on the route, with Phillipsburg, Belleville, Marysville, Seneca and Atwood close behind. Belleville also has a multi-seller building where about a dozen sellers set up at one address.

When does next year's event happen?

The US-36 Treasure Hunt runs every September on the third Thursday through Saturday. The 2027 dates follow that same annual pattern — we'll update this page once the organizers confirm them.

We'll see you on the road.