Volunteers are hard at work accepting book donations for the 61st AAUW Used Book Fair at the City of Bethlehem’s Municipal Ice Skating Rink on Illick’s Mill Road. Although donations are down a bit according to event co-chairs Amy Fields and Rita Bergstrom, a result of the post COVID inundation of donations in 2022, they assure patrons that “we’ll still have a bunch of books.”

Fields and Bergstrom said many donations come from people who are downsizing their households or cleaning out estates. Generally 60,000 to 100,000 books are sold at each event.

Proceeds are used to fund scholarships for women who are graduating from Freedom HS, Liberty HS, Saucon Valley HS and the Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts, as well as women who may be returning to secondary education later in life. Twenty recipients are receiving scholarships in 2023.

Donations will continue to be accepted at the Earl Shaffer Municipal Ice rink through April 25, Monday through Saturday between 9 a.m. and noon.

The sale begins April 27 with preview day from 2 to 6 p.m. (entry fee of $20 between 2 to 4 p.m. and entry fee of $15 between 4 and 6 p.m.), April 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., April 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 30 between noon to 5 p.m. (half-price day), and May 1 from 9 a.m. to noon (bag day-$10 for a bag).

Cash and checks are the only accepted forms of payment and additional information can be found at bethlehem-pa.aauw.net.