By Charlie Mahler
The first chapter of one of the largest used book sales in the state opens tomorrow as the donation period begins today for the 63rd annual Northfield Book Fair.
Donors are invited to bring books, CDs, LPs, DVDs, puzzles, and games to the Northfield Ice Arena from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday this week, or 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday, April 11, or next week Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Mark Heiman, Chair of the Northfield Hospital + Clinic Auxiliary Book Fair, talked about the fair with Rich Larson on KYMN’s In the Morning show on Monday, including the simple process of donating to the fair.
“You can just drive right up to the doors and there are usually shopping carts out there so you can load up your car and roll it right in the doors,” he said. “Our volunteers will take it from you, and put it on the growing mountain of books that we have to deal with.”
The Book Fair is unable to accept VHS tapes, cassettes, 78s, software, dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, and Readers Digest condensed books, Heiman noted, because they don’t sell well.
Funds raised from the more than 70,000 books and media items the fair expects to gather will provide funds to the hospital and other Northfield community physical and mental health-related organizations.
“It’s all about identifying unmet needs that relate to health care and making sure that we can fund those,” Heiman explained. “Purchasing a rapid transfuser, a new nitrous oxide machine in the birth center, the ER reception area had a workspace safety project that they needed some extra funding for. The auxiliary purchases a new book for every baby that’s born at the birth center. It ties right back in and we see some of those books come through the book sale later on.”
After the current donation period ends, the Book Fair will open its doors to customers on Tuesday evening, April 21, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and then run daily from 9 a.m. to 9p.m. through Friday, April 25.
The fair ends Saturday, April 25 with a $5 bag sale from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Afterward, from 1 until 3 p.m., everything is free!
Find complete Northfield Book Fair details – for both donors and buyers – at northfieldbookfair.org.
Charlie Mahler is a Senior Reporter for KYMN News. Contact him at charlie@kymnradio.net
