It has been heard of as far away as Maine.

Old Nintendo games, paperback books, safari hats and even Kale Soup. It's not your father's yard sale.

Well, maybe it is. Regardless, Robinson Estates' annual yard sale is still going strong, growing even, after 35 years. The yardsale is an annual event held in mid-September where residents of Robinson Estates in Freetown and their neighbors in bordering Rochester coordinate to hold their yardsales on the same weekend, producing a combination of block party and bazaar that must be seen to be believed.

"We like it because it brings the community together," said Marlene Johnson, the Freetown resident responsible for organizing the multi-town affair. "In my yard we have seven people [selling]."

Johnson first helped to organize the yard sale in the late 1970s with the help of her then-neighbor. Eventually, her neighbor moved away and left her in charge. Every year she begins planning months in advance.

"People will plan their weddings around this," said Johnson, adding that she has met people in Maine who had heard of the sale.

"Robinson Estates is really the Freetown side," said Rochester resident Sue Silva, who has been a part of the sale since the beginning.

Although Robinson Estates is in Freetown, it straddles the town line with Rochester and plenty of the community yard sale's 60 participating households are from the Rochester side.

And those participants were rewarded with attendance they hadn't seen for years.

"Yesterday, you couldn't even drive in here by 8 a.m.," said Corey Hanks, a food vendor who's attended the event for several years.

"We had cars parked yesterday all the way up to [Route] 105," said Cecelia Hall, of Rochester, who came with her husband and brought plenty to sell. "It's been here for 35 years but I've been coming for 10."

"There are a lot of people here who'll see each other and say 'Oh, I haven't seen you since the last yard sale,'" said Johnson.

And don't think trinkets are all that's on hand.

"Put in a good word for her about her kale soup," shouts a passerby, pointing to where Rochester's Ann Eldridge is serving up batches of Kale.

"When you get this many people together, they need to eat," says Eldridge. "I've gone through 14 batches of kale soup at five quarts each."

And Eldridge isn't the only food vendor to be found. Hanks decided to come all the way from New Bedford with his newly-established hotdog business, Fenway Sausage Works.

"We've been coming here six years," said Hanks, pausing between serving customers. "This is the first year we've brought the trailer though."

As for where all of the clutter comes from to fuel 35 years of yard sales, Johnson has a theory or two.

"It's a hobby for people who are retired," she says. "My husband likes to buy stuff, then he fixes it and sells it here. He might not make any money but he still had fun."