Friends of the Library Bake Sale, May 12

Jean Knox writes: This year’s Samuel Wentworth Library bake sale is on May 12th, from 10 to 1, in the library’s community room. Proceeds from the sale are used to buy books for the library. This popular annual event is sponsored by Friends of the Library. Come and buy a special dessert for Mother’s Day! Freeze extra baked goods for your summer guests!
 
Bake Sale Power: For history buffs, a bake sale is not just a minor fundraiser. It may call to mind momentous reform periods in 19th century America, when the temperance movement and campaign for women’s suffrage captured the nation’s attention. Women were the driving force behind these movements, although their world was confined to home and hearth. To raise funds, women turned to an activity they knew well: baking. Bake sales were quickly popular, for back then a home-made pie from a bake sale was an appealing alternative to tending a woodstove for hours. Soon bake sales expanded to include crafts and quilt raffles. In some communities, bake sales developed into annual fairs. Along the way, women developed proficient business skills. They may have established the concept of the non-profit annual report. Never under-estimate the power of a pie!

Samuel Wentworth library’s annual bake sale has been a popular Mother’s Day tradition in Center Sandwich for more than forty years. Bethany Powers, children’s librarian, started the sale on her own to raise money for children's books. The Friends of the Library took over the sale, linking it to a plant sale, when Lucy Glenday was FOL president. Today the bake sale is as popular as ever, and a sure sign of spring in Sandwich.
 
Remember to sign up to bake, and please come to buy on Mother’s Day weekend, 2018. The second Saturday in May is officially National Bake Sale Day!