Annual Summer Book Sale

Book Sale was again a successful event in 2025.

League members invariably ask: how much did we make? The answer in 2025: we grossed $28,837.40. This is more than we have made, at least in recent years. We did this, as in the previous two years, with a ten-day long collection period with donors limited to five boxes a day (exceptions to this limit are sometimes given.)

The preparation for the sale itself (July 1–22) was successful in the number of volunteers who came to unpack, cull, sort and curate (the latter emphasized more in 2025.) Forty-four of those who volunteered in 2024 returned in 2025; an additional forty-nine were new volunteers this year. An impressive total of ninety-three volunteers! (This number includes session chairs as well as cashiers and shelvers from the sale.) Thirty of the volunteers were League members.

A couple of notes from the sale: Book dealers tell us they appreciate having their own day, before the sale begins. They spent about $10,000 this year. The last Sunday of the sale, Bag Day, when a shopping bag of books costs $5, was a big hit as it was its first year, in 2024.

That the construction of the new school was the background for preparation and sale was a challenge—especially during the sale, when we worried about loss of most of our usual parking space. But we were able to meet the challenge, with the help of Amherst’s police.

The Book Sale is a community event. The numbers of returning and new volunteers who weren’t League members tells us that. The number of smiling faces of shoppers, arms (or bags, or boxes) full of books, and their compliments for the Sale—its organization and its friendly workers –tell us that. So, too, does the help of Amherst’s police and fire departments, and of course, of Fort River Elementary School and its staff.

Susan Millinger

2025 Book Sale chair

More questions?  Contact Susan Millinger here.