Book Lovers Flock To Annual Sale

By John Voket

The guys and dolls from the Friends of the Library probably don’t want to refer to their annual fundraiser as “the oldest established, permanent floating book sale in Newtown,” but with future plans for Fairfield Hills, and the Booth Library book sale’s former home at Bridgeport Hall currently in flux, there’s no telling where or when the next annual book sale might land.

Since there’s no McCloskey’s bar, or even a Biltmore Garage to house the event (even if they had that thousand bucks), there’s a good possibility that for the time being, patrons of the popular book extravaganza might have to consider this year’s temporary Reed School location its home. And while many visitors could be overheard asking if this was the first of two book sales, the Friends will have to work doubly hard ensuring their benefactors don’t return on Labor Day to find they missed their beloved activity by almost two months.

Until this year, the Friend’s annual book sale was as much a part of Labor Day weekend as Newtown’s enormous parade, drawing patrons from across the Northeast to Bridgeport Hall on the Fairfield Hills campus. But, credit certainly needs to go to the many volunteers who have endured the changes going on there, and still successfully accomplishing this year’s benefit at the only available location close enough to make it work.

In keeping with tradition, the gym, cafeteria, and foyer of Reed School were packed with hundreds of thousands of volumes, and thousands of visitors over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Unfortunately, the Labor Day holiday normally reserved for the sale had to be shifted forward because the early summer provided the only opportunity for volunteers to have enough lead time to meticulously organize the warehouse full of donated materials onto carefully marked tables.

Fortunately, the logistical changes didn’t seem to put any damper on crowds that flocked to the event, some pushing carts loaded with hundreds of volumes, and others content to walk away with a single summertime reading companion tucked under their arms.