Joyce Smith, left, looks over Sue Luke� dolls for sale at The Valdosta Daily Times Annual Fall Yard Sale at the Lowndes County Civic Center Saturday .

VALDOSTA — Hundreds combed through clothes, shoes, jewelry, books and bird houses Saturday searching for that elusive treasure.

The Valdosta Daily Times Fall Community Yard Sale placed a hundred vendors and hundreds of shoppers together under one roof at the Lowndes County Civic Center.

The stifling heat inside the civic center didn’t seem to slow down shoppers as they combed through the rows of merchandise.

Ray City resident Arlene Studstill was selling handmade bird houses.

She and her friend, Cathy Harrell from Alapaha built bird houses this summer for their respective yards.

What started out as a do-it-yourself project morphed into a crafty business when friends started requesting bird houses for their own yards, Studstill said.

The bird houses are miniature farms houses complete with front porch, churches and log cabins.

Studstill even makes rock houses for the birds.

“I love it; every one of them is different,” she said.

The supplies to make the bird houses come from various locations. People might be tearing down an old barn and Studstill comes and picks up some wood. Some of the bird houses are even made out of tobacco sticks.

The idea she said is to “go green” with the houses by recycling products.

At the yard sale people could pick through prom dresses, taste homemade barbeque sauce and even contemplate the purchase of a motorized wheelchair.

The vast array of items is what entertains Jimmy Story, who is retired from the Air Force. Twenty-four years of travel and service has helped him accumulate a lot of stuff.

Coming to the yard sale helps him get rid of his stuff, but he always seems to find something else he needs at another booth, Story said.

The items at Story’s booth included playing cards created during President George W. Bush’s administration with terrorist suspects’ pictures on them, wildlife pictures and ammunition containers.

This is Story’s third year at the yard sale.

“Its a lot of fun even if you don’t sell anything,” Story said.

He was also amused at the temperature difference between last fall and this year.

“Last year it was freezing this year its a sauna,” he said.

Live Oak resident Emma Corbin said the reason she comes to the yard sale is simple.

“I like junk,” Corbin said. “I like making

something out of nothing.”

Corbin makes solar lamps, wind chimes and bird houses among other things.

Hanging in her stall were wind chimes made out of deer antlers and serving utensils. A bird house made out of a rubber rain boot, painted to look like a cow, dangled from another string.

Corbin came last year and said she enjoys the people at the community yard sale.

The Valdosta Daily Times is in its sixth year of hosting the yard sale. One is held in the spring and again in the fall.

Proceeds from Saturday’s sale will benefit Newspaper in Education, a program sponsored by The Valdosta Daily Times that subsidizes 70 percent of the cost of classroom newspaper for area schools. The rest of the cost is covered by donations from readers, fund-raisers and businesses through the Partners in Education initiative.