You go in for one paperback. You come out with eleven and a tote bag you didn’t own that morning. It happens to the best of us, and it happens in Rapid City every October.
The AAUW Rapid City book sale runs Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 18 at the Creative Arts Building on the Central States Fair grounds. Friday is first choice night, 4pm to 7pm, with refreshments and a wine bar. Admission that evening is $10. Saturday runs 9am to 3pm and Sunday runs 10am to noon, both with free admission.
Where the Money Goes
Most of the money earned becomes scholarships for young women from West River South Dakota who are working toward their educational goals. The rest becomes an annual grant for a different nonprofit each year, whose mission lines up with AAUW’s. You fill a bag with paperbacks for a few dollars, and some of that shows up later in a tuition bill somebody was losing sleep over.
If you’ve helped a girl figure out how to pay for college, you know what that sleep looks like.
A Branch With Nearly a Century Behind It
The Rapid City branch of AAUW was chartered in 1927 with 30 dues-paying members. The organizing treasurer was Miss Della M. Haft, librarian at the South Dakota School of Mines. Of course a librarian got this thing off the ground.
The national organization goes back to 1881, and the Rapid City branch has spent nearly 100 years carrying that mission out locally.
The work took different shapes over the decades. In 1935, following a national AAUW initiative, the branch sponsored a preschool and kindergarten taught by a teacher trained to instruct children of that age group.
The book sale started in the 1960s and has run ever since. Six decades of hauling boxes, sorting titles, setting up tables, and turning the receipts into scholarships.
Clean Out Your Shelves First
Before you shop, you can give.
Book donations are accepted at the Central States Fair grounds on October 10 from 9am to 4pm, and October 11 from 9am to noon.
Now’s a good time to be honest about the stack on your nightstand. The one you’ve meant to get to since spring. The hardcover somebody gave you. The third copy of a book you somehow own three copies of. Box them up, and your shelf gets some breathing room while somebody else finds exactly what they were hoping for.
Getting Involved Beyond the Sale
The branch generally meets the first or second Saturday of each month, September through May. Check the AAUW Rapid City Facebook page for details.
If You Go
AAUW Rapid City Book Sale Creative Arts Building, Central States Fair, Rapid City
- Friday, October 16: 4pm to 7pm, first choice night with refreshments and a wine bar, $10 admission
- Saturday, October 17: 9am to 3pm, free admission
- Sunday, October 18: 10am to noon, free admission
Book donation drop-off at the Central States Fair grounds:
- October 12: 10am to 4pm
- October 13: 10am to 4pm
For more information, follow AAUW Rapid City on Facebook or email aauwrapidcity@gmail.com.
