The Rotary Club of Wānaka annual book sale held at the Lake Wānaka Centre last weekend (July 12-14) was a “huge success”, organisers say.

Funds raised were up 40 percent on 2023, and club spokesperson and organiser Geoff McLeay said the sale grossed $19,000.

“The result was far beyond our expectations,” Geoff said. 

“Thanks to what we had in storage and donations by the community we took around 16,000 books to the sale.”

Geoff said the club has been listening to feedback from the community and making the sale better every year by improving the presentation, providing more buyer assistance, and making the layout easier to browse.

He said some small price increases helped as did the addition of jigsaws to the sale for the first time.

Thousands of books and plenty of jigsaws were on sale.

“Jigsaws were a huge success, very popular,” Geoff said. 

“People loved them, we sold out within two hours.”

All funds raised will help the Rotary Club of Wānaka support worthwhile projects and causes, club president Alan Richardson said.

“This is a great result and will really help us support organisations and individuals that need some assistance,” Alan said.

“Our club members put in a lot of effort to make the book sale wonderful and I can’t thank them enough.”

Alan said the club is already planning for next year’s sale which will be held in the July school holidays. “It’s a great time to run it,” he said.

PHOTO: Wānaka App