awaited return of Berks Book Bonanza
It's been two years since the last Berks Book Bonanza was held.
The annual book sale hasn't had a permanent place to call home for a long time. And that forced the cancellation of the sale each of the past two years.
Apparently, it was sorely missed.
The sale returned on Friday at its new home at the Berks County South Campus in Mohnton. The event drew mobs of people armed with bags and boxes and looking to stock up on reading material.
Rhonda Kleinspehn was among the first to arrive. The Sinking Spring resident said she was in line two hours before the doors opened, hoping to snag titles by some of her favorite authors to add to her home library.
"I love to read — as you can see," she said with a smile as she sat surrounded by four bags filled to the brim with books. "I have more than 6,000 books in my library, and I have been looking forward to the return of this sale to add to my collection."
Kleinspehn primarily sticks to fictional tales that involve romance and mystery, preferring books that transport her to a different time and place. But, she said, she was confident that there were plenty of options to suit all visitors.
The Book Bonanza is one of the largest book sales in the region, offering gently-used hardcover and paperbacks, CDs, DVDs, puzzles and games at prices of $2 or less for general items. The sale also offers specialty materials and collectible books.
The past two years, without a place to call home, the sale was canceled. And its future appeared to be in doubt.
But in April, the Berks County commissioners approved a five-year agreement to host the sale at the South Campus — a move that should bring some stability to the event for at least a little while. The agreement provides just under 9,800 square feet of warehouse space for the book sale at the facility.
Sherry Davis, president of the Berks Book Bonanza Board of Directors, said finding a permanent home has been a long time coming.
"We can't begin to explain how grateful we are to the commissioners," she said.
The latest plan started taking shape just over two years ago, just after the county announced the creation of the South Campus. County officials said then that part of the new facility would be dedicated to the Book Bonanza for the collection of books, storage of materials and site of the annual sale.
Organizers of the Book Bonanza were invited to meet with an architect to talk about renovating a portion of the property into a space designed for their purpose.
Everything has finally come to fruition.
"This is astounding," Davis said as she looked around in amazement at a room packed with people perusing rows of books. "Since we only had a few months to collect material we thought this sale was going to be on the smaller side so seeing this kind of crowd is totally unexpected."
Proceeds from the sale are split evenly between the Friends of Berks County Libraries and the local branch of the American Association of University Women. The last sale, held in 2021, raised nearly $105,000 for the nonprofit organizations.
Judy Ellsworth, vice president of the Berks Book Bonanza board, was in awe as well. She said she was blown away by the response from the community.
"When we arrived and saw the line waiting to get in we were shocked," she said. "And the amount of donations we received from people was absolutely phenomenal. We easily have more than 100,000 items for sale."
Stacy Shannon was browsing through some of those items shortly after the sale began on Friday when he came across something rather unusual. The Ontelaunee Township man had found two copies of a Reading High School yearbook from 1939 — the year his late father had graduated.
"I came looking to fill in some holes in my collection at home," he said. "I was kind of looking for niche items more than anything else and I happened to discover this."
Shannon opened one of the yearbooks and began to search for his father. Eventually he spotted the name he was looking for: Stillman Shannon.
"I definitely wasn't expecting to find this today," he said.
Admission is free to the sale, which continues Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the South Campus at 400 E. Wyomissing Ave. It concludes Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the $5 a Fill-a-Bag sale.
