Hundreds of keen readers turned out for the Rotary Club of Wānaka’s annual book sale last weekend, snapping up all sorts of books and jigsaw puzzles - and helping raise money for local causes.

The three-day sale (July 4-6), held at the Lake Wānaka Centre, raised more than $20,000, Rotary Club of Wānaka spokesperson John Huddleston said.

“The result was excellent and we’re really grateful for the community's support,” John said. 

“It’s a big job to make the sale happen and there are many people and organisations involved. But it is well worth it.”

John said this year’s book sale had more ‘fresh’ books than previous years due to a huge response from the community to drop off their used books prior to the sale.

“The Mitre 10 Mega drop-off response was very good which provided great variety and quality for buyers,” he said.

“Jigsaws were also a huge success, very popular.” 

John said the base price for books was raised this year to keep up with the times.

“We always aim to keep our book prices affordable, but like everything, a price rise was inevitable,” he said. 

Thousands of books and plenty of jigsaws were on sale.

“At three dollars, the books still offered great value, and we kept children’s and young adult titles at just one dollar to help families.”

All funds raised will help the Rotary Club of Wānaka support local projects and causes, club president Marie Fitchett said.

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

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

Marie thanked the many organisations that provided support to help raise funds through the book sale: Wānaka Storage Solutions, Mitre 10 MEGA Wanaka, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Wastebusters, Upper Clutha Transport, The Messenger, and the Wānaka App.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App