Geelong West Book Fair reaches record numbers

THE Rotary Club of Geelong West believes its latest Rotary Book Fair at Geelong West Town Hall is the biggest and best book fair they have ever hosted.

Rotary Club of Geelong West president Jim Marendaz said more than 2,500 people attended the three-day book fair with more than 30,000 books on offer.

“We’re obviously pretty happy with that result,” Mr Marendaz said.

“In normal times, we have this event twice a year, but in covid times, like everything else, we were lucky to get one fair in during 2021, so we’ve had a bit of a build-up of the stock of our books.

“On the back of a pretty successful fair back in February, we thought we might have a smaller event this time around, but in fact we had record sales.”

In total, the rotary club estimates it has raised $28,000 in total from the fair, but that number is still climbing as final tallies continue.

All entrants were required to pay a gold coin donation upon arrival with paperback and hardcover books setting back buyers one dollar and two dollars, respectively.

Mr Marendaz said the large number of sales could be because new demographics are attending the book fair.

“We’re seeing a more localised clientele, more people around the Geelong West area,” Mr Marendaz said.

“We’ve previously seen older aged demographics coming through the door looking for a bargain on a book, but now it’s very different.

“Mum and dads with their school kids come through a lot on the Friday afternoon timeslot of our fair, particularly after school, a lot more younger people have been coming to the event than before and it’s really just a really big cross-section of people.”

A large portion of the funds raised will go towards the Barwon Health Foundation’s Project North initiative to support healthier futures for residents in the northern suburbs of Geelong, in addition to other local community initiatives.