It’s hard to believe that it’s all behind us now. A good many of us did nothing but eat, sleep and breathe Book Fair from Monday, November 9th when set up began to Tuesday, November 17th, when we got the last of our stuff back to the Book Loft. In that period of time, we sold about 80,000 books and made a little money for our beneficiaries– House of Bread Community Kitchen, Human Race Theatre Company, Humane Society of Greater Dayton and Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm.
See the photos here
One big change for next year — we’re adding an extra day. The sale will begin Thursday, November 10th and run through Monday, November 14th. Mark your calendars now. .
Dayton Book Fair 
Thank you for having the Book Fair. However, I sincerely hope that you will go back to the original bag pricing for Harlequin romances next year. The $10 a box is not as good a value and I personally witnessed several people who had travelled to the book fair very disappointed by the change in pricing. You have a hard time getting rid of those anyway. Instead of having the volunteers pack the box, why don’t you just have them pack the paper bags and put a piece of tape over the top. That way, you will eliminate cheating and still give people a good value. Hope you take this to heart.
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We are giving serious contemplation to discontinuing Harlequins altogether. For the real estate they take up on the selling floor, and for all the hassle we’ve had about them this year, and for the tiny bit of money they bring in, and for all the work we put into sorting them, boxing them, storing them, and transporting them— frankly, we are questioning whether or not it’s worth offering them at all.
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I loved that you offered the Monday clean sweep. I had a blast filling bags and boxes with anything I found interesting. I had a lot of friends who wanted to go but couldn’t due to work. I really hope you’ll consider offering evening hours next year for the clean sweep, I think you’ll see an increase in attendees.
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Unfortunately, evening hours are just not possible. We can’t offer them on Sunday because it would have a negative impact on Sunday’s bag day and we have to be out of the Fairgrounds by five on Monday. (And of course we exist to raise money for Dayton area non-profits, so we’d like to sell books too 😉 ) So Monday morning is going to be about the best we can do— we are delighted that you had a great time, and look forward to seeing you next year too.
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