For more than 30 years, the Pakeke Lions Book Sale has been a boon to the community in many ways.
This Thursday, at the Gore A&P Showgrounds, the doors will open once again with plenty to look through — with 700 boxes filled with around 20,000 donated tomes.
The event will officially begin Thursday, 3pm going until 7pm, starting again on Friday from 9am to 7pm, and finish on Saturday at noon for any last-minute buyers.
Convener John Falconer, who has been hard at work with the other Pakeke Lions to get the event ready, said this book sale was a big one.
"I think it would be equal to the very best we’ve ever had.
"We’ve got more books available [than last year], but the same variety," he said.
Year 12 and 13 students from Māruawai College came to help set up the event, doing "the most wonderful job" of laying out the tables and books at the venue.
Blue Light and Gore Police also came to help load up the boxes, which was a pretty hefty job after a year of collecting and sorting.
This year, the funds will be given to the Lions Clubs Cancer Trust’s campaign for a second free skin cancer screening bus.
Now, there was only one, which recently visited Gore RSA and travelled all around New Zealand giving free check-ups.
If successful in fundraising, the whole country would have a dedicated, travelling screening service available, and Mr Falconer said he was hoping to get strong support for the cause.
"We choose a special cause each year and because of the prevalence of skin cancer, it just felt the most appropriate this year.
"The big thing is, it’ll be a free bus, people can just go and do it, and it will just be very good," he said.
Mr Falconer said every year there was a wonderful response from the community and he hoped to see everyone down at the showgrounds, ready for another round of the sale.
