Soft rock music played throughout the west community building of the Monroe County Fairgrounds while about 20 shoppers examined books, records, CDs and DVDs arranged neatly on tables.
Thursday was the opening day of the six-day Hoosier Hills Food Bank’s community book fair. This is the 36th year of the book fair.
Earlier this morning, there had been a line out the door, said Julio Alonso, executive director of the food bank. Alonso said the book fair is the second-largest fundraiser for the nonprofit. It earned between $35,000 and $40,000 from last year’s book fair.
Hoosier Hills Food Bank distributes food to 100 different agencies in six nearby counties. Many of these agencies are food pantries, kitchens and shelters. Alonso said the food bank relies entirely on donations and volunteers.
“Our primary goal is to make sure no one goes hungry in our six-county region,” he said.
Alonso said between about 3,000 and 4,000 people come to the book fair each year. He said people even come from out of state. He said he met people who had come from St. Louis and Ohio earlier that day.
Jeannette and David Hewins, both 75, have volunteered at the book fair for about 10 years. Mr. Hewins said he helped load about 45 boxes of books into a Lafayette, Indiana man’s car earlier.
“They come a long way because they know it’s a good book sale,” Jeannette Hewins said.
Heather Ummel, 43, is a book club member, elementary school assistant principal and literature teacher. She stood at a table in the children’s section, deciding between books. Her picks went into a red wagon that was almost full. Its contents included “The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm,” “Reptiles do the Strangest Things” and “Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini.”
“My life is a great deal about books,” Ummel said.
She said she comes to the book fair every year to look for children’s books for her six kids ages 3 to 17. Ummel said she already has a big collection of children’s books at home, and when she gets home with her full wagon, she’ll need to figure out where to put her new books.
“There’s no better way to build your library,” Ummel said.
Past the Halloween-themed section for horror, true crime and science fiction books, Ken Harker, 78, browsed the Better Books section of the sale, which features collectibles and rare or signed copies of books. Harker said he has been coming to the book fair for at least the past 10 years. As a corporate attorney, he said he didn’t always have much time for reading, but he does now that he’s retired.
“It gives me a chance to catch up on all the reading I didn’t get done when I was younger,” Harker said.
He said he reads a lot of different genres, but he especially likes fiction, history and political science. Harker said he wasn’t looking for anything in particular but ended up finding a copy of “Alice in Wonderland” with gold edges for his granddaughter.
When Jeannette and David Hewins' have time to shop around the sale, they said they both want to check out the mystery books.
DavidHewins said he wanted to check the crafting books for any on woodworking.
Alonso said there are over 100,000 items at the sale. Besides books, there are comics, posters, stamps and coins, puzzles, board games and sports trading cards.
“Whatever your interests might be, you’re going to find something out here,” Alonso said.
Alonso said before the book fair is a year of collecting and sorting books and other items. Most of the items for the book fair are donated from individuals, libraries or estates of people who have passed away.
Most items are priced under $3. Cash, debit and credit are accepted. Light snacks and beverages are available, and there will also be various food trucks each day except the last.
The book fair will run through Tuesday. Friday is Crafts Day, where books in the crafts section are buy one, get one free. Saturday is Farm, Friends & Family Day, where the first 50 children will receive a free copy of “Charlotte’s Web.” Sunday is Heroes Day, complete with a special appearance of fire trucks and firefighters. Monday, all items will be half-price. Tuesday is Bag It Day, in which a bag worth of any items will be $5.
“We’d like to see many as many people come out as possible because there’s some great stuff here,“ Alonso said.
