PARKERSBURG - Hundreds of avid book-lovers turned out Monday for the first day of the 63rd annual Trinity Used Book Sale in downtown Parkersburg.
Bill St. Clair of Parkersburg said he goes to the book sale each year at Trinity Episcopal Church at 430 Juliana St.
"There's a great variety of books and pretty good prices," he said, adding his main interests at the sale are classic literature, self-help books, biographies and political science.
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Photo by Wayne Towner
Parkersburg resident Bill St. Clair looks through books Monday at the annual Trinity Used Book Sale at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Parkersburg.
"I see a lot of the same people here every year, too, so it's kind of like an opportunity to socialize with people you don't see the rest of the year," St. Clair said.
Pat Holliday of Parkersburg said her husband comes to the book sale every year, but Monday was her first visit. She was interested in finding keepsake cookbooks for her daughter, who operates a restaurant.
"It's interesting," she said of the book sale and its variety, adding she was also finding books in her own areas of interest.
The book sale will be open from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. today through Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday. On Thursday and Friday, book prices will be cut in half and Saturday will feature bags of books for $1.
Lunch is being served by the church on the first four days of the sale. There will also be a bake sale and Christmas gift sale in the church's library during the first couple of days of the sale.
Carma Guertin, co-chair of the annual sale with Lynette Neilson, said the opening of the sale on Monday morning included a line of waiting book enthusiasts when the door opened, as it does every year. Following the initial crowded rush of book shoppers on the first morning, the sale was settling down to a steady pace of customers Monday afternoon as it does each year, she said.
Guertin estimated about 50,000-60,000 books were donated for this years sale, so many that the church volunteers had to stop taking books in October due to lack of storage space. The books fall in 25 categories including classic literature, fiction, westerns, romance, science fiction, reference and textbooks.
This year's donations also include a larger-than-usual number of large print books, which are very helpful for people who have trouble with standard-sized print, she said.
Unsold books at the end of the sale are given to local charities, so each year's sale is stocked with recent donations, Guertin said.
The church uses the money it makes from the sale to contribute to 17 different organizations, including the West Virginia Youth Foundation, Parkersburg Day Nursery, the Salvation Army, Horizons, Old Man River, the Good Samaritan Clinic, the American Red Cross and others.
It contributes half the money made in the sale to the organizations and the other half goes to Trinity for its programs, Guertin said.
