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For 20 years, the much-anticipated Mangawhai Museum Book Fairs have attracted hundreds of book lovers keen on seeking a good read.
Held biannually at Easter and over Labour Weekend, the fairs are a major fundraiser for the museum, and manager Angela Cook says the events are always successful.
“This year we’ve had a lot of high-quality commercial fiction come in,,” she says. “I really enjoy the fairs, like the energy of the space, it feels so positive.”
Starting in 2005, the first book fairs helped fund the facility’s new building, with the first event raising just over $5000. Over the subsequent years, the totals gradually grew with the Easter 2011 event, held in the bare shell of the museum building, bringing in an incredible $24,300.
Cook says around a dozen people coordinate the event, and volunteers are never in short supply as book people often specifically request to help set up the fair.
“There is always good team to price and sort, and I think that helps make it successful, that the books are desirable and categorised alphabetically, making them easy to find and a pleasure to look over.”
One volunteer is Cook’s teenage daughter, Lucia, who has brought her own unique touch to the event.
“She’s done a few groupings of certain books and tied them up with string as a package. Some of the donated books have a clear theme because the donor had a special interest so it seems almost criminal to break them up,” she says. “We also have more children’s books being donated than in previous years as Mangawhai’s demographic changes.”
A published author of six children’s books and a former book reviewer, Cook is a book lover herself and has a large collection of various genres.
“I love reading, and apparently, if you have more than a thousand books in your home, you’ve got a library, so that’s me,” she says. “I probably inherit at least 20 books every fair, and that’s being restrained, I can’t help it.”
Mangawhai Book Fair, Mangawhai Museum, April 18-21, 10am-4pm
