By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
This one’s a real page-turner.
Following a reportedly successful opening, Friends of Brown Library’s annual book sale continues from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. today and from noon until 3 p.m. Sunday at the Washington Civic Center.
Sunday’s stint represents a chance for people to fill their shelves with reading material in an economical way. On the sale’s final day, customers may fill plastic grocery bags with books for $5 per bag.
The sale raises funds for Washington’s Brown Library, specifically for public programming sponsored by the nonprofit Friends of Brown Library.
“It’s fantastic to see the people that come in and fill up their bags,” said Rick Wingard, director of the book sale.
As Wingard spoke, patrons were busy filling up some of those bags, and even a few boxes, during the lunch rush.
People had lined up outside the Civic Center to await the sale’s opening Friday morning, he related.
“It’s a real study in dynamics of a community,” Wingard commented, adding that the response to the sale highlights one of the best examples of community interest.
Through the sale, Friends of Brown Library hopes to exceed its previous fundraising total for the initiative, which netted about $20,000 last year, said Rachel V. Mills, president.
“The more we can do the more programs we can sponsor for the library,” Mills pointed out.
Money generated by the sale covers a variety of events, including a children’s summer reading program, storytelling presentations and, for adults, the Conversations with North Carolina Authors series.
This year’s sale featured around 25,000 books, Mills said earlier in the week.
Most of the books came from individuals’ private collections, Wingard shared.
Cindi Tracey of Rocky Mount was among the people drawn to the sale.
Tracey and her husband made the trip to Washington to buy 10 boxes of books for their online business. The pair sells on eBay and Amazon.com, she said.
“We came down here specifically for the sale,” Tracey said.
Asked about the quality of the items on hand, she replied, “Good books. Lots of good books.”
Price list for book sale