Carol Howard at the Founders Book Fair

Book lovers make the most of bargains

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Hundreds of bookworms have been feasting in Founders for their annual book fair, with thousands of pre-loved novels, tales, stories and magazines going for cheap.

The Founders Book Fair has been going for 25 years straight and is expected to bring in $100,000-plus for the development of the park. It is run by a team of keen volunteers, or “sorters” as they call themselves, having sorted through thousands of donated books since this time last year.

Spokesperson Karen Clark is expecting at least 2000 people to visit Founders Park during the duration of the fair, which runs until Sunday afternoon.

“They say 1000, but I’d like to hope we’d get 2000 or 3000. It looks like it’s going to be a good year again,” she says.

“We’ve been putting the books into banana boxes and we probably had 200 more banana boxes full of books this year than last. There’s just thousands and thousands.”

This year’s fair started with a hiss and a roar on Saturday morning, with many people queuing at the door, and car parks near the windmill entrance hard to come by.

Steve Halliday of Stoke was at the fair within the first hour and says he’s been several times before.

“I like to look for the old books and I’ve bought a few in the past. I don’t go to the library anymore because I just come here and buy all my books for the year,” the Stoke man says. “Today I’ve bought the first edition of War and Peace.”

Gillian Farrell of Dovedale had also been to the fair numerous times, saying she had been six years in a row.

“The variety of books [brings me back every year]. You can always find something you weren’t looking for at the beginning. I tend to look for science, gardening or humour, but I just look around and pick up things I like.”

Many of the other visitors have come from across New Zealand, including Jackie and Peter Smart who make the trip from Christchurch every year. They say they’ve made great friends from the book fair, who they hoped to see again, and that they stay in the region for nine days while it’s on.

The Founders Book Fair is open from 10am-4:30pm daily, until Sunday June 10.