Residents of the Marshall area will have the opportunity to add to their reading list this upcoming weekend. The Friends of the Marshall Community Library will be hosting their 30th annual book sale on Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 at the Marshall Community Library.
The book sale is one of the hallmark fundraising efforts for the Friends. The library’s doors will open at 8 a.m. on both days and will run until 1 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Those who are members of the Friends group have access to a special preview sale on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Residents can stop by in person to sign up and join the Friends if they’d like, memberships cost $5 for an individual and $10 for a family.
There will be a little bit of something for all readers to pick out over the weekend. According to Friends member and book sale organizer, Leaota Braithwaite, every year’s offerings are different.
Some specific genres and media types that Braithwaite mentioned the Friends will have a lot of this year are:
FictionNon-fictionCookbooksKid’s booksCDs and DVDsand puzzles
Braithwaite, who’s married to Friends President Phillip Braithwaite, stated that there will be a slight increase in pricing for the first time in 30 years.
Hardcovers and paperbacks will now be $1 and 50 cents, respectively, after being priced at 50 and 25 cents up until now. Some special items will continue to be priced separately.
In addition to the regular sale hours, the “grocery bag sale” will return for another year. From noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, residents can pay $3 for a paper bag to fill with whatever they would like.
Braithwaite said that the Friends won’t be holding any materials back from the bag sale; she encouraged anyone stopping by to leave with their bag bursting.
“We encourage them to be overflowing and splitting at the seams. I’ve been known to say, ‘If you don’t have it full then just throw in a couple of romances,’” she said.
As for the engine behind the event, Braithwaite said that volunteers help everything come together.
She said that a core group of Friends volunteers put in a lot of work setting up shelving and tables in the week leading up to the sale. However, more help is always welcomed for breaking things down on Saturday once the sale ends.
When it comes to sorting the stockpile of materials before the weekend, that’s more of a family matter.
“My daughters and my husband have been my core helpers. My daughters and I can fly through quite a few books. They were raised during this book sale from when they were toddlers to now,” Braithwaite said.
Not only can older and younger readers get new material for cheap through the annual sale. But, the Friends also use all of the proceeds to continue to support the library.
Braithwaite said that the group uses their funds to help with the “extras” that the library’s budget won’t always cover. The group has helped by purchasing summer reading prizes for kids or paying for library programming and materials, among other initiatives.
Year in and year out, the main motivating factor for the fundraiser is to promote literacy and making reading accessible for everyone.
“It’s all about encouraging reading. I really like the idea that parents can give their kids a dollar or two and they can come out with a handful of books,” Braithwaite said.
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