During a very cold February and March, in a dirty and very very cold north-facing garage, a small, well-insulated troupe of intrepid book slaves (as Adam deemed us) opened the garage door and rummaged through teetering stacks of boxes crammed with used books, ranging in condition from pitiful to well-loved. From the chaos came the Book Sale, Dixon’s improbably successful used book store, open every hour of every day.
All those books belong to the Embudo Valley Library. Traditionally, when the apples were ripe, volunteers organized that massive accumulation of tomes and opuscles into the Book Sale, an orderly display on a multitude of tables, which earned the Library a meaningful pile of dollars during the Dixon Studio Tour. After each Tour weekend, the remainders were stuffed into every available cardboard box and shoved into the garage behind the Co-op. Each winter many of Dixon’s book lovers would take a moment to commiserate with Maile that some wonderful something wasn’t done with all those fine volumes. So Maile pondered and dreamt, accepted every plank and tilting bookcase, encouraged the community to wrestle this ponderous beast into submission, puzzled, and asked. Pluto aligned with Aquarius and the asking turned the key.
Though still dusty, the Book Sale currently houses a gazillion volumes (an estimate which may be a tad inflated). The store is illuminated by donated lamps, arrayed with contributed rugs, and decorated with table and chairs (also gifts), making it a splendidly comfortable and invigorating place to visit (in very quick stops at noon during February and March). Categorized in a somewhat arbitrary manner and then alphabetized in a slightly haphazard way, forty-five sections of books await new homes. Kids, carpenters, and creatives can scratch that cogitation itch in one central location; it’s marvelously convenient. Plus, travelers can now swap maps thanks to the brilliant suggestion and prompt donation by Doug and Judy (people just love dreaming over those maps). Any book devotee or planning-stage traveler will find something to replace those she just donated, different but equally lovable, useful, and entertaining.
And, saving the best for the last, each sale contributes directly to the administrative costs of running our beloved Library. That means Maile and Einar can spend a bit more time on library stuff instead of grant stuff. They, she and he, make this all worth every sneeze and shiver.