The Friends hosted two events the weekend of May 16-18: our tri-annual Used Book Sale, and annual Plant Give & Take. Both events were a success, thanks to our wonderful community of volunteers – and patrons!
The spring book sale went well, with fiction books fully lining the back room. Despite many other events in the community that weekend, nearly 1,000 people made purchases on Friday through Sunday. Sunday’s “Dime Day” sale, where all books are just 10 cents, was once again popular – as was the first hour of the sale on Friday, which is open to Friends members only!
We had a great contingent of volunteers setting up the books, working on the sales days, and doing clean-up, including members of the Christian Brothers Academy National Honor Society, who made quick work of moving the books from the book room to the sales floor during setup.
For the second consecutive year, the Plant Give and Take event was held on the Saturday of the Used Book Sale (May 17).
All plants were donated by community gardeners in “bare root” condition (in water rather than soil), which cuts down on pests and diseases. House plants in soil and seeds were also accepted.
Several Master Gardeners were on hand to answer questions and hand out educational materials as patrons shopped and made a fair donation in the amount of their choosing. Moving the event to May from June (when it had been held in previous years) seemed to work well for gardeners for a variety of reasons – so look for similar timing in years to come!