KINGSTON — Though the Kitsap Regional Library may be struggling to find extra change in the couch cushions after its levy measure failed in May, the Kingston branch continues to receive a helping hand from the Kingston Friends of the Library.
This Saturday, the Kingston Farmers Market will provide the perfect venue for the groups’ biggest book sale of the year.
Along with fresh produce, hand-crafted items, hot-off-the-grill food and a relaxed atmosphere, the KFM will feature volume upon volume of children’s stories, fiction, non-fiction and everything in between for the avid reader or those just looking for a way to kill a few hours this summer.
“Friends of the Library’s focus is to give all the money raised to the library programs and equipment,” said event organizer Ann Wetter. “We will continue to save money for the new library and community center effort.”
The Friends have been hard at work lately, raising money for the new building, to be constructed in conjunction with the mixed use development at Kingston Village Green.
In the meantime, the group is also providing funding for more immediate needs, like the children’s summer reading program.
“The last thing we supported was the paperback books for the children’s reading program,” said event organizer Linda Morse. “More and more readers came up, so we needed to come up with more money this year. I’m really proud of Kingston’s young readers this year.”
The book sale will feature paperbacks for 50 cents and hardbacks for $1, with some specialty books mixed in. The paper bag sale — which closes out the event and invites patrons to fill up their bags with any remaining books for $5 — will start at 1:30 p.m., Morse said. The Friends of the Library is hoping to raise $2,000 for the cause.
“We have discussed that,” Wetter said of raising prices to bring in more funding. “We decided to keep them the same. People coming to sales expect 50 cent and $1 prices, with special prices for special books.”
Every book on sale this weekend is “new” and has not been through any of the Kingston Friends of the Library’s previous sales. Anything left over will be donated to Stillwaters Environmental Center for its October sale, Morse said.
“We encourage the community to come,” Wetter said. “If you join Friends of the Library, you get constant e-mails about what’s going on, so we really garnish support there. The book sale at the farmers market attracts by far the most shoppers, and it’s the most fun.”
