Book enthusiasts swarmed the Golden Fellowship Hall in Interlochen this weekend looking for bargains and must haves at the 20th Annual Interlochen Library Book sale.
Sifting through categories ranging from business, mysteries and sports to crafts, fiction and foreign language, patrons left with everything from a few books to bags of them. Between 8,000-10,000 books were offered for sale during the two-day event.
The Interlochen Friends of the Library hosted the sale, which was held this year in honor of longtime Friends member Margaret Unger. The Lake Ann resident died in February.
"Margaret helped out for years and she did a lot of the publicity for it," said Barbara Emerick, co-director of the event for the first year along with Kathy Johnson. "It's a very active library here, when I first moved up here two and a half year ago they called it a hidden treasure."
Heather Bartelmay of Interlochen sorted through the reference section Saturday afternoon with intention. A mother of two young children, she was taking a short break away from her responsibilities but keeping her family foremost in her mind.
"The first thing I grabbed were kids books, then I went to cooking and now I'm looking for books on childrearing," she noted. "Next, I'm going to history because my husband likes to read history books."
The sale raised approximately $4,500 for the library, providing funds to purchase children's books as well as hold special programming for adults, teens and children.
Combined with money from other Friends annual events, including a plant sale and concerto concert, the group also has previously purchased items such as a copier, shelving or furniture. The Interlochen Friends of the Library also contributes money to the annual summer reading club, which last year enrolled 165 children in the six-week program. "It helps us immensely," said Janette Ransom, director of the Interlochen Public Library of the sale. "We are so lucky to have this group, we're very fortunate."
After a year of sorting, stacking and storing donated books, volunteers from the 250-member Friends organization put on an intense push to set up the sale late last week. They worked to sort, organize and price every book to make it easy for shoppers.
Thursday evening, the organization opened the sale to Friends members only, which every year draws numerous book dealers.
"We have brisk sales those first two hours," noted Emerick. "We have a lot of book dealers who join [the Friends group] just so they can come the night before."
While most books came from community donations, some books at the sale had been weeded out from the Interlochen Public Library collection. Others were leftovers from a Long Lake Township Library sale. The remains of the Interlochen sale went to Fife Lake for a sale this weekend at that community's new library.
"It's so much fun watching people get bargains," said Emerick, a retired teacher. "The fundraising is wonderful, but I enjoy watching people get books; it's just a thrill to watch someone put aside books because she's a teacher."
Don Komrska of Interlochen was stocking up on books for his winter reading season. A devout Christian, he chooses his reading material carefully but enjoys westerns and World War II stories for recreational reading.
"I love to read and my wife reads a lot, too, and my daughter-in-law," said Komrska, a retired educator who attended the sale Saturday with his wife, Fip. "I read in January, February and March, 25 books in that little time."