“Our baked goods are normally all sold by this time of day,” said Margaret Harden of Perry as she looked first at the table full of cookies, pies and other sweets and then at the clock reading 1:45 p.m.
For reasons unexplained, the advertisement the Friends of the Perry Public Library placed for their fall plant and bake sale did not appear in a Perry-area shopping circular, Harden said, and organizers of the event suspected the omission caused slower than normal sales.
“I’ve never seen it this slow,” said Harden, a longtime supporter of the library. “We’ll have to make it up in the spring.”
By 2 p.m. Saturday, when the sale ended, many plants remained unsold. Some were given away, and others were hauled back to the homes of the organizers.
Shirley Ehlers of Perry filled the trunk of her car with several boxes of small plants, and Ray Harden of Perry nearly filled his trailer.
Money raised by Friends of the Perry Public Library directly supports the library’s programs, such as the reading programs for toddlers and teens and the author events, such as the recent appearance by mystery writer C. J. Box. The city of Perry pays for the physical upkeep and operation of the library but provides no budget for programming.
A day of fine late-summer weather might also explain in part the slow traffic at the sale. Sponsors of worthy events should also note the surest and least expensive way to reach the maximum number of customers is with an advertisement in ThePerryNews.com.
