	{"id":187019,"date":"2026-05-14T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=187019"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:10:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:10:03","slug":"geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Geelong&#8217;s biggest book pile? St Bernard&#8217;s prepares for 15,000-title fair"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>STAFF WRITER<\/p>\n<p>A collection of more than 15,000 books will take over the Clairvaux School Hall this Sunday as the St Bernard&#8217;s Church annual book fair returns.<\/p>\n<p>The event, which runs from 8am to 2pm on 17 May, has become a staple for Geelong bargain hunters.<\/p>\n<p>Parishioners and locals have spent nearly a year amassing the haul, which covers everything from crime and sport to cooking and children&#8217;s literature.<\/p>\n<p>Organisers are hoping to build on last year&#8217;s success \u2013 which saw 2,000 people through the doors \u2013 with a goal of raising $10,000 for the St Bernard&#8217;s Parish.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the rows of fiction and non-fiction, the fair will feature a major collection of jigsaw puzzles and DVDs, alongside a traditional cake stall stocked with home-baked goods.<\/p>\n<p>Coordinator Peter Wills said the scale of the event is a testament to the community&#8217;s generosity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re incredibly grateful for the ongoing support from our community, whether it&#8217;s through book donations or coming along to the event,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Each year the response grows stronger, and we&#8217;re excited to make this year&#8217;s sale our biggest and most successful yet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Clairvaux School Hall is at 45 Reynolds Road in Belmont.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STAFF WRITER A collection of more than 15,000 books will take over the Clairvaux School Hall this Sunday as the St Bernard&#8217;s Church annual book fair returns. The event, which runs from 8am to 2pm on 17 May, has become a staple for Geelong bargain hunters. Parishioners and locals have spent nearly a year amassing [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":187021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-187019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Geelong&#039;s biggest book pile? St Bernard&#039;s prepares for 15,000-title fair - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Visit the St Bernard&#039;s Book Fair in Belmont this Sunday! Shop 15,000+ books, puzzles, and cakes to support the local Geelong community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Geelong&#039;s biggest book pile? St Bernard&#039;s prepares for 15,000-title fair - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Visit the St Bernard&#039;s Book Fair in Belmont this Sunday! Shop 15,000+ books, puzzles, and cakes to support the local Geelong community.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/13-may-tng-18.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellie Claringbold\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ellie Claringbold\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/geelongs-biggest-book-pile-st-bernards-prepares-for-15000-title-fair\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ellie Claringbold\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32abddd83bad3e2425166905b3e3aaff\"},\"headline\":\"Geelong&#8217;s biggest book pile? 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