Once a year, there’s a line stretching out to the street from the door of the Vicksburg District Library. It’s the opening day of the book sale, part of the Old Car Festival. This year, it begins at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 12 and ends on Monday, June 15 at 1 p.m., during the library’s regular hours.
Those waiting patiently for the doors to open Friday may include collectors or those who have waited a year to upgrade their home library. Those who march out with a bagful of books on Monday may be looking for the deal of a lifetime because they can cram as many books in a shopping bag for total price of $2.
People are still reading good books, according to the dedicated organizer of the book sale, Gail Reisterer. “We are grateful for the thousands of donated books from community members that makes the sale so successful. The Old Car Festival each year brings hundreds to the library for this sale, so it’s a perfect time for us to earn extra money for the permanent children’s book collection.
This year’s attractions include a fabulous display of donated cook books, according to Reisterer. There are lots of good history books, some by noted area author Larry Massie. Reisterer is pleased to offer a whole set of Dr. Charles Van Riper’s novels. Van Riper taught speech pathology at Western Michigan University when Reisterer was a student there.
She is particularly enthused about a collection of old-time radio show tapes that showcase the likes of Frank Sinatra. They also have lots of video tapes for VCRs that will sell for dirt cheap, Reisterer said. Local residents will need to get in that line early on Friday, if they want to acquire some of these special items, including puzzles, collectables and some Gwen Frostic works, she advised.
Volunteers help all year long to organize the thousands of donated books and work at the actual sale. Then it starts all over again for Reisterer. This is her 20th year of heading up the sale.