Three thousand people walked through the doors in the first hour of the very popular Lifeline Canberra Bookfair today.
Lifeline Canberra CEO Carrie Leeson, who greeted attendees at the door, said 2,000 people were already in line when the doors opened at 9am on Friday.
She said that number grew to 2,500 through the doors by 9:45am, reaching 3,000 at 10am.
โWhich is incredible. When I started in this role 10 years ago, we might have had 2,500 on the first day,โ Ms Leeson said.
She said about 25,000 people attend the three-day event each year.
โSo possibly a bit more than that this time,โ Ms Leeon said.
The first Lifeline Canberra Bookfair of the year is running at Exhibition Park in Canberra from 7-9 February.
Ms Leeson said it was wonderful to have thousands of people lined up before the doors opened.
โItโs always just a wonderful thing. You always hope for that support and that queue, and you almost anticipate it, but you donโt ever expect it,โ she said.
โItโs always so wonderful and everyoneโs smiling. They wait for four, five, six hours to come in and are still beaming when the doors open.
โItโs just such a wonderful energy and even though thereโs 2,500 people, thereโs so much kindness and graciousness and respect for everyone around you.โ
Accompanying the books, maps, puzzles, crafts and everything else in between, Lifeline Canberra launched their new mascot Dare to Care Bear. Ms Leeson said the mascot was seven years in the making.
โHe just makes everyone smile and the message behind him and his purpose is to engage with the younger community members,โ she said.
โThatโs to make sure they understand that Lifeline is for them too.
One of the people buying books was Erin Quinlan from Canberra.
She has five children, aged between three and 12, who she said are all bookworms.
โI canโt possibly give them enough books,โ Erin said.
โThey go through books at an unbelievable pace.โ
She said the family donated the books after the children have read them.
โItโs just a really great way to make use of things that other people have loved and passed on and be able to do the same,โ Erin said.
She said her children love reading so much that she sometimes has to encourage them to put the books down to head outside for some exercise.
โItโs kind of that culture in our home of just enjoying books and having our reading time in the evenings as a family,โ she said.
Travelling in from Yass for the bookfair were Bronwyn Ward and Jason Ralton who had a trolley ready to fill with books.
Bronwyn said this was the second year she had attended the bookfair to purchase university textbooks for her, Jason, and her three children.
โI worked out that last time I spent about $200 and got about $3,000 worth of textbooks, so Iโm hoping to do as well, if not, probably spend a little bit more this time,โ she said
โTheyโre just so hard to find at an affordable price, particularly the law textbooks; theyโre usually hundreds of dollars each.โ
โAnd I canโt access this kind of stuff out in country NSW.โ
Books can be donated at a table outside next to the entrance, while bigger donations can be driven up and delivered at the Mallee Pavilion.
The Lifeline Canberra Bookfair will run at EPIC on Friday 7 February 9am-6pm, Saturday 8 February 9am-5pm and Sunday 9 February 9am-4pm.
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@canberradaily 3,000 people filed through the pavlion doors at Exhibition Park in Canberra in the first hour of the Lifeline Canberra Bookfair on Friday 7 February. The event runs until Sunday 9 February.
