For bibliophiles from across the Upstate and beyond, there’s been a siren call on an August weekend in Greenville for the past two decades: the Greenville Literacy Association’s (GLA) “Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap” book sale.
The sale returns for its 20th year to McAlister Square Aug. 6-8.
According to GLA Executive Director John Jaraczewski, volunteers are looking forward to having the sale in-person after last year’s hiatus due to the pandemic.
Making a difference for literacy
“We’re just thrilled to be able to bring this back to McAlister Square,” Jaraczewski said. “It’s probably the one time of year that people come together and say to themselves, ‘What am I doing for literacy.’”
With this year’s collection topping 130,000 books, the sale is GLA’s largest fundraising event.
I’m a bookaholic. The coolest thing about the sale is it’s a community event.
Kim Phillips has been helping with the sale for 16 years in roles ranging from a volunteer to sale coordinator to a paid member of GLA’s staff. She said it would be hard to imagine a single event that has had more of an impact on raising awareness for increasing literacy and educational opportunities.
“I’m a bookaholic,” Phillips said. “The coolest thing about the sale is it’s a community event.”
She said people probably don’t appreciate just how much community involvement goes into making the sale a reality. She said that in early years, members of Furman University’s freshman football team helped pull the pallets of books out of storage. That job is now filled by United Ministries’ Overcomers group and on the Tuesday before the sale, workers from Greenville Sanitation unload the pallets.
Phillips said that about 200 volunteers spend the Thursday before the sale setting up the tables and shelves in McAlister Square and that without the help of such a large group of community members the sale would not happen.
3-day book bonanza
This year’s sale will kick off with a preview party on Friday, Aug. 6, from 5:30-8 p.m. where patrons can shop before the sale opens to the general public. Tickets for that event are $50. The schedule for the sale itself:
- Saturday, Aug. 7 — the sale runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free.
- Saturday, Aug. 7 — $10 gets you access to the Early Bird sale starting at 7:30 a.m.
- Sunday, Aug. 8 — the bag sale clearance event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and shoppers can fill designated bags for $10 per bag.
Phillips described the opening of the sale Saturday morning as exciting.
“It’s like the running of the bulls,” she said. “I tell people, ‘When the doors open you better grab a wall.’”
For more information about literacy efforts the sale supports, visit greenvilleliteracy.org.
Significant dates for the book sale
- 2007 — the sale topped 100,000 books for the first time
- 2009 — the sale added the Friday preview party
- 2013 — the sale added its first Bag sale on Sunday, making it a 3-day event
- 2014 — the “Early bird” sale was added
- 2014 — An Amazon store was added to the sale, raising an additional $15,000 to $18,000 for GLA annually
