It took 16 years to get here. On Monday, a little over a week in advance of the 15th annual Big Book Sale, the Friends of the Guelph Public Library issued a large novelty cheque to Guelph Public Library staff members. While the massive cheque wasn’t legal tender, the amount was real. After 14 book sales, $1 million has been donated to the cause of building a new main library.

“So back in 2007, Marjorie Bethune once mused out loud that we should have a book sale. The rest, as they say, is history. The first one was in the Eaton Centre, and she managed it all by herself and every year after that it became a game: Will we have another one? Will we find a space? Will we make more than we made last year? We’ll crack $100,000? All of which we did,” explained Virginia Gillham, past chair of the Friends.

“The money has been invested in the Guelph Community Foundation, and here we are in 2023 with $1 million for the new library,” Gillham added. “So big thanks to everyone who’s been involved, and particularly thanks to Susan Frasson and Coldpoint Holdings for the use of 69 Huron Street.”

Gillham and the current chair of the Friends of the Guelph Public Library Ian Findlay then presented the $1 million cheque to Guelph Public Library CEO Steve Kraft and Library board chair Randalin Ellery. Dozens of volunteers setting up for next week’s edition of the sale then took part in a group photo with Gillham, Findlay, Kraft, Ellery and the cheque.

So how did the Friends get a million dollars? Years and years of hard work. The first two years of the Book Sale in 2007 and 2008 at Old Quebec Street generated a combined $20,000 in net revenue, and by 2010 it was collecting close to $24,000 in one year. The Book Sale eventually cracked $100,000 in 2014 when it collected $100,466 in gross revenue, but by the next year, the Sale was collecting over $100,000 in net revenue on a yearly basis.

The sale set a new record in 2019 with just over $117,000, right before the sale took a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That first sale back last year only made $51,616, but the Friends say that’s because they had more limited space to operate from compared to previous years.

As for the 2023 sale, the Friends are still looking for volunteers to serve as one of the people who tally up the books before people are cashed out as well as door monitors and floor monitors. Time slots are available for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and you can learn more at the volunteers page of the Friends website.