Mary Copp can remember when the Elora Festival’s first book sale was held and it consisted of a few tables in the lounge of the curling club.
This year, there were so many books they were nearly forcing the sale out of doors, and well over 2,500 people were on hand over the two days. Many of those lined up for over an hour to get first crack and nearly 60,000 volumes were available this year, which was yet another record.
The result was good News for the Elora Festival. On May 14, the book sale organizers learned they had set a record in sales, with a gross of $44,700 – which topped the 2007 sales record of $42,000.
All the books are donated, and Copp noted that the festival stopped collecting for this year’s sale just a week ahead of the first weekend in May. There is now a start on next year’s collection.
Copp said one book dealer alone purchased over $900 worth of science fiction paperbacks this year.
“A lot of them are up in the hundreds,” she said of the dealers’ purchases.
The sale has always attracted book dealers, but hundreds of book lovers also drop by to pick up their summer reading. This year, the workers collected 1,627 tally sheets, but Copp said many of those represented family totals. There were also 50 dealers who attended and bought something.
The festival supplies hundreds of cardboard boxes so people can carry their treasures as they browse through the volumes. Everything from cookbooks to sheet music to mysteries to political memoirs are available.
Festival manager Joanne Grodzinski said it is difficult to judge, but she estimated about 5,000 people paid a visit to the curling club this year. Some of them came back for seconds.
Copp said she knows of one couple that drives to Elora every year from upper New York state, just to attend the sale.
She said one reason it is so attractive to book lovers is the prices. Paperbacks often sell there for 25 cents, and hardcovers often go for a mere $1 or $2, and she noted there are not many places that can compete with those prices.
The festival once did a time and motion study and Copp said the army of volunteers will handle each book nine times before it reaches the tables. That includes pick-up, sorting, pricing, re-boxing, moving to the curling club, and sorting and stacking them in various categories onto the tables.
She added that most of the buyers are from the Fergus and Elora area.
The sale is the Elora Festival’s biggest fundraiser.
