One of the best library fairs ever

$25,000.

That’s the amount of money raised at last Saturday’s Friends of the Orcas Island Library Fair.

It was one of the largest amounts ever, said Tom Carroll, president of the Friends of the Orcas Island Library, the organization which stages the annual event.

The revenue sources were approximately as follows: book sale, $7,500; art auction, $4,700; quilt and car raffles, $4,600; vendors booths, $3,300; silent auction, $2,000; and sailboat auction, $1,900. Alfred Johnson, of The Hair Company, contributed $729, which was every cent of the revenue he raised cutting hair at his booth.

The money will go into the Friends’ bank account, where it will await a detailed annual request for funding from the library director. That request will be one of the first orders of business for the new director, Phil Heikkinen, who is slated to assume his duties on Sept. 20.

Theme for this year’s fair was “Teamwork,” and Carroll says it’s the word that best explains why it was so successful. “We had a lot of people working hard,” Carroll said. “If anyone dropped the ball, it wouldn’t have happened.”

But the many people who worked at the fair all delivered. “There were so many that people didn’t even know about,” Carroll said, giving everybody a pat on the back.

Nevertheless, he singled out several for special praise. They included Doug and Joyce Pearson, who ran the book sale; Toby Hiller, fair chairman; Patty Monaco, who oversaw the booths; Glenna Richards, who ran the art auction; James Lobdell, who oversaw the silent auction; Judy Schliebus, who fed the volunteers at the conclusion of the fair; and Wally Logan, who undertook countless miscellaneous tasks.

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