CARP – Polish up those reading glasses, the West Carleton Food Access Centre (WCFAC) Colossal Book Sale starts tomorrow (Sept. 6).

And it’s going to be huge. West Carleton Online dropped by the Carp Agricultural Society Agriculture Hall early this morning (Sept. 5) and a brood of busy bees are already bustling, getting ready for a massive clew of book works Friday and Saturday.

“It has been crazy,” WCFAC board member and book sale organizer Pam Ross told West Carleton Online taking a brief respite from the action. “We’ll be ready to go tomorrow morning.”

And it’s going to be a book lover’s dream. This year the volunteer crew has collected more than 11,000 books for the WCFAC’s largest fundraiser of the year. Today, more than 30 volunteers are already hard at work sorting and categorizing the huge collection.

Ross says the crew got off to a slow start this year, thanks to the terrible growing season farmers in West Carleton are enduring this year. What’s that you say? ‘Silly writer, books don’t grow in the ground.’

You are correct. But the collection is stored at Ross’ nearby farm and space was limited this year.

“It took us a while to get the seeds planted to make room for the books,” Ross said. “We didn’t start collecting books until the second week of July.”

A WCFAC purchase helped speed things up. The organization purchased a sign near the Ross farm indicating the book drop-off location and that meant organizers did not have to travel the countryside picking up donated books this year.

“The road sign at the farm was the best investment,” Ross said.

Not every book makes the cut and after some frantic catch up work, “we’re ready to go,” Ross said.

The WCFAC has extended its Friday sale hours to 8 p.m. so people can drop by and peruse on their way home from work. This year the sale will also feature a special raffle. The WCFAC collected five donated gift baskets, each with their own theme. Tickets to win a basket will be available throughout the sale.

The book sale runs Friday, Sept. 6 from noon to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 7 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Carp Agricultural Hall at 3790 Carp Rd.