Ready to read?: Regina’s Big Book Sale gets underway

The Big Book Sale is a really big book sale this year.

The event wasn’t held in each of the previous two years due to COVID-19, so there’s a lot of donated material to choose from at the 2022 sale.

It began Thursday at the Highland Curling Club and runs through Sunday. An extra day was added this year because of the volume of material available.

“Holy moly,” Neale Partington, a spokesperson for the sale, told Saskatchewan Afternoon guest host Lisa Schick when asked how big the 2022 sale is. “I’m thinking it’s three times the size of the previous one, because people have been saving their books for three years, right?

“I did an estimate about a week ago, and we had over 160,000 books out on the floor, so I’m guessing we’re closer to 200,000 right now.”

There also are 13,000 CDs and 11,000 DVDs, along with puzzles, games and children’s books as well.

“We’re full,” Partington said.

In its first few years, the Big Book Sale was held in malls before moving to the University of Regina. Then it moved to the Tartan Curling Club before finally landing at the Highland.

“There’s a team of people that grew it all the way from there,” Partington said. “It was originally intended — and it’s still intended — as a fundraiser for the Seniors’ University Group.”

Proceeds of the sale support the cost of courses and activities at the Lifelong Learning Centre at the U of R’s College Avenue campus. The centre offers seniors a chance to further their education.

According to the sale’s website, the average price of a book is $1.25. Partington noted there are lots of bookmarks, journals, photo albums and pictures available — and someone even donated a Kobo electronic reader.

Books that aren’t sold will be donated to other organizations.

“We’ve got 20-plus charities that we contact and say, ‘What kind of books do you like and how many can you take?’’’ Partington said. “Then we box them all up and the charities come pick them up.

“A major one which we’re most proud of is the provincial jails. A number of years ago, one of our members got associated with a chief justice. We provide tons of books for the jails and they get distributed all through the province — and they say they’re really helpful.”

The sale runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.