Visitors perused tables stacked with books over the weekend at the Community Church at Tellico Village during the 23rd annual Friends of the Tellico Village Library book sale.

The outing serves as the group’s largest fundraiser of the year, and is second only to Friends membership dues in the most money brought in each year, Friends Past President Doug Christman said.

“For the Friends financially it’s a very important source of revenue for us to pay our expenses and mortgage and all the costs of running a library,” Christman said. “... Also we feel it’s important to the community that we’re able to provide a large number of quality books at very reasonable prices for people who choose to buy the books and bring them home as opposed to picking them up at the library.


“... Over the weekend we’ll get younger couples coming in maybe with their children and they’ll pick out a bunch of children’s books or puzzles or games, things like that, and that’s what we really like to see,” he added.

About 15,000-20,000 books were offered to roughly 500 visitors during the sale. Christman said books were largely donated by the community.

“Everything you see that’s been done here — the set up, putting the books, the sorting, pricing, the food, preparation — is all volunteers,” Christman said. “All the money we make virtually goes to the Friends for operating expenses. We do have to pay to rent the hall, of course, and we do have to pay to rent some tables but other than that.”

Christman said the sale nets about $12,000 each year, which goes toward the library’s mortgage obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2012. More than $1.4 million is still owed on the $1.509 million loan set to mature April 4, 2051.

“It’s extremely important when you consider that the mortgage ... is reasonably significant,” Cap Purvis, Tellico Village Property Owners Association board member, said. “When we first applied we thought that the federal government might give us a grant because of the economic situation here in the Village, but they did give a low-interest mortgage.”

Purvis served on the Friends board when land was acquired for the library property. He stepped down around the time he joined the POA board. Purvis, a Friends member for about 15-16 years, attended the book sale.

“It’s good for the people to get an opportunity (to buy books for a good cause),” Purvis said. “It serves two purposes — it gives people a chance to get books as well as help to fund the library. What a lot of people don’t realize is that two organizations here, the library and the fire department, most people think of those as being part of the tax dollars because of where they come from. Not here. The library is supported by the Friends and the fire department is supported by donations.”

The sale, which was open to the public Friday and Saturday, included paperback and hardback books, puzzles, books on CD, CDs and DVDs. Members of the Friends had first pick Thursday.

One Friends member was Sue DeMasellis, who moved to the Village with her husband, Bob, in August.

“(I want) some good deals,” DeMasellis said, laughing. “We hit a book sale down in Florida in February. We were down there at a library book sale (and) it was a really great deal. We got a bunch of great books, a great big box of books for like 20 bucks. It was a good bargain, and donate them back so they can sell them again.”

Christman said the sale largely attracts people in and near Loudon County, but commercial book dealers around the Southeast also appear for a bargain.

“They want to come and buy books and they want to spend their money,” Christman said. “I think a lot of people come here because they are book lovers. They like books, they want to read, and we have a great selection and can’t beat our prices. Now I think that I mentioned we do get commercial book dealers in here as well that are in the business. It’s interesting you’ll watch them and they’ll bring in their big carts and they’ve got an iPad or iPhone and they’re checking the (International Standard Book Number) numbers on the books and they’ll say, ‘That’s a good book,’ and he throws it in the cart.”