Friends of the Marshall Public Library is a non-profit group that plans fundraisers for the Marshall Public Library.
Eliza Schmidt is the president of Friends of the MPL and she says this originally just started as something to do while children participated in story time.
“The kids were being entertained and we were like we should be doing something constructive with this half an hour,” Schmidt said.
Friends of MPL used to do big book sales twice a year that would go on for three days, but as the group got older, it got harder to have the energy to participate in long books sales and then the pandemic hit. The library was shut down and people weren’t able to come in.
The first fall during the pandemic Friends of the MPL decided to do a large tent sale, but quickly discovered it was too hard on their bodies.
“But when COVID really hit and people were cleaning out their houses we got a lot of books donated, and it was like we got to do something, how can we sell books to the public? People still can’t come into the library,” Schmidt said.
Thus the Summer Flash Sales were born.
The Summer Flash Sales are mini four-hour sales that happen in the parking lot by the library where Friends of the MPL only bring out some of the books up for sale.
“What is there, is there, and if you don’t see something you like then you can come to the next sale. This allows us to still get the books out to the public and it still raises money for the library,” Schmidt said.
The first summer sale will be on May 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and it will be at 113 S. Garfield Ave., in Pocatello. Every other sale after this will be on the third Saturday of every month.
You can find Friends of the MPL on Facebook here.