By Zana Tarsi

SOUTHPORT–From July 24 to July 28, over 100,000 books were up for grabs at the Pequot Library’s annual summer sale. The sale, which has run for more than six decades, started as a way to get rid of excess books but now attracts bookworms from across the country, covering around 10,000 square feet and featuring over 50 genres. 

Doug Fried, who has volunteered at the sale for 34 years, shared how the event ballooned from a small sale to a major community event. According to Fried, the sale began after the executive director of the library, Stanley Crane, realized the library was receiving more donations than it could keep in the library. “People were dropping off books that they didn’t need…and he took some for the library, and the others he decided, ‘Hey, why don’t we have a sale?’”

Since the sale began, the event has mushroomed in size. Fried said that their growth comes from the fact that “people have discovered that [the sale] is a good way to clear out their surplus books… Other people have decided this is a good way to support the library.”

But it’s not just locals who flock to the summer sale. The Pequot Library uses a variety of techniques to attract customers from near and far. “The staff of the library uses social media… they post… and we have about several thousand patrons of the library. They get an email blast saying that the book sale is coming up.” 

But, outside of social media and local patrons, the sale’s reputation speaks for itself. Websites like Book Sale Finder and news outlets across the state regularly announce the sale. In fact, their popularity has risen to the point where people often donate other objects besides books. 

According to Fried, “I think [people] think of this as a place to deposit household goods or interesting things that are not necessarily books… someone had a collection of vintage cameras they were looking for a home for… so we put them on the table along with the books. There was once someone who had a collection of prints… so we said sure, we’ll take that.”

But although the summer sale gets the most attention, the library also holds three other sales: The Black Friday book sale shortly after Thanksgiving, the midwinter book sale, and the spring blowout book sale. According to Fried, the additional sales were created to handle the large number of donations that came in throughout the year.

Now, over 60 years after it opened, the Pequot Library Summer Sale continues to have a profound effect on its community year after year.