By Luke Voogt
Locals into cricket or cooking, golf or wine-tasting, or simply eager to lose themselves between the pages of an epic, can choose from 5000 extra titles at Geelong West’s Monster Book Fair.
After cancelling the biannual event last August, Geelong West Rotary Club now has more than 22,000 books to choose from this month, at a gold coin apiece.
“We have at least another 5000 that we’ve collected over the last 12 months,” organiser Stephen Yewdall said.
Last year proceeds from the fair, the club’s major fundraiser, went towards towns ravaged by bushfires, new diagnostic equipment for Barwon Health and supporting COVID-19 frontline workers.
The fair has thousands of page-turners including biographies, cookbooks, classics, thrillers, a plethora of children’s titles and more, at $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hardcovers.
Along with local causes, proceeds go towards Rotary’s global efforts such as its mission to eradicate polio, which still affects some third-world countries.
“By simply buying and reading some books you are helping to change lives – just a small contribution, but such a big result,” club president Freda Wright said.
Geelong Regional Library supports the sustainable fair by donating thousands of “retired” titles each year.
“It’s wonderful to see items from our collection finding new homes in the community rather than ending up in landfill,” library chair Ron Nelson said.
This year the event also celebrates 100 years since the founding of the first four Rotary clubs in Australia and New Zealand.
The Book Fair begins at Geelong West Town Hall on Friday, February 19, running from 9am to 8pm.
The fair continues from 9am to 5pm on February 20 and 9am to 2pm on February 21.
