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Stovall Helps Saturday Take the Cake During Friends’ Book Sale

Every day of the annual Friends of the Guilford Free Library Book (GFL) Sale is special, but thanks to Diana Stovall and her supporters, Saturday takes the cake.

The 36th annual Friends of the GFL Book Sale, offering gently used books at bargain prices, takes place Friday, Sept. 22 through Sunday Sept. 24 at the library. Once again, tables will be burgeoning with donated books Friends’ volunteers have collected and sorted all year long. With the exception of an exceptional collection of vintage books, readers can snap up finds for just $1 to $4 per book, and at half the price on Sunday. The sheer volume of books makes this event the Friends’ largest annual fundraiser, bringing in nearly $40,000 to support programs, events, materials, and more at GFL.

Even with book bargains all around, Book Sale regulars line up on Saturday to visit the event’s popular Bake Sale. The table is always tastefully decorated by Diana and loaded with attractive packages of delicious, donated baked goods that will sell out.

What goes first? Carrot cakes and lemon bars, followed by pies still warm from the oven, says Diana, who has been managing “hospitality” for Friends events, including organizing the annual Bake Sale, for nearly as many years as she’s been a member (she joined in 1990).

“I love to cook, but I don’t bake, so I’m just in awe of what people do. We get cookies and brownies and pies; there’s just a wonderful assortment,” says Diana. “Some people make jams, which are very popular, and some bring their herbs from their gardens, and some of them decorate with their herbs.”

Diana may not bake, but her talents are certainly a main ingredient of the bake sale’s success. Last year, the bake sale added some $1,500 in proceeds to the Book Sale’s bottom line.

Diana’s bake sale work begins with gathering her small team to help marshal about 300 donations of goods to be sold on Saturday. From gooey brownies to beautiful breads and much more, everything is delicious.

“People take a lot of pride,” says Diana of the volunteer bakers. “They’ll stop and tell you this was their grandmother’s recipe...There’s always a kind of story to it. And we listen. You get to know people.”

The effort to bring in the baked goods begins with hundreds of phone calls to Friends members, as well as some to a few talented and generous “friends who are not Friends,” who also donate to the bake sale, says Diana.

“We call over 700 people to ask them to come to bake sale, and if they would like to please bake something. If somebody says they don’t bake, they can make a contribution, and some people do give us checks,” says Diana. “The Friends are very, very generous and the response is always positive. It’s a great group of people.”

However, there is always an X-factor which keeps Diana guessing right up to the Friday before the sale.

“Mostly we get answering machines, and you let them know you’re calling from the Friends, and would you be kind enough to bake again?” says Diana.

Early on Friday, Diana and four to six committee members arrive at the library to accept baked goods and get to work on packaging donations for sale.

“People bring their items in, and by noon, we’re usually thinking we won’t have enough! But by end of the day, it pours in,” says Diana.

Diana and her hand-picked team will spend the entire day, and several early hours on Saturday, separating trays and dishes of baked goods into appealing packaging that has become Diana’s stock in trade for assisting with the bake sale’s success.

“It’s a great group of people that have helped me over the years. They look forward to it and we have a good time. We know that we have this job to do, and we want to make it as pretty as possible,” says Diana.

For example, Diana points to Ellie Hartmann, who “can do a package in 50 seconds make it look gorgeous—like it just came out of Tiffany’s window,” she says.

The boxes, ribbons, and other packaging materials at hand are there thanks to Diana’s tasteful eye.

“I don’t just buy string ribbon,” she says. “I buy nice ribbon—the type you can bend. We do nice work and everybody has their own creativity.”

Diana’s creativity caught the eye of Elizabeth Butler (of Elizabeth’s Café and Perfect Parties of Madison), shortly after Diana moved to Guilford in 1985 from Chicago.

“When I moved here, she had a house for rent, and I looked at it. She said, ‘What do you do?’ And I said, ‘I do flowers and I love to cook.’ And she said, ‘Why don’t we do something together?’ I worked for Betty for 17 years in catering, and for about 15 years I was her party manager,” says Diana, who puts her decorative touch on the Friends’ bake table each year with a special theme.

“I’ll always have a pretty cloth on the table,” says Diana. “I’m going to do a fall theme this year. It really looks beautiful, I have to say!”

Diana’s work in Madison kept her connected to the town where her family summered through the years. In the 1980s, when it came time for her to move back to the East Coast year-round, Diana found her new home in Guilford. Diana credits her mother, who had also moved to Guilford, with first connecting her with Friends of GFL.

“She was very active with the Darien Library, and she said, ‘I think it’s time you started working at the library, too,’” says Diana. “I joined the Friends, and I’ve been a member ever since! I think at the time I joined, they needed shelvers, so that’s how I started helping out.”

Like all of the Friends, Diana is loyal the library and sees so many reasons why it deserves support.

“There’s something for everybody at the library,” said Diana. “And it’s a place where people congregate—you always run into somebody you know there. It’s really a wonderful library. It’s something I really have become a part of. When I go in, it’s almost like coming home. It’s fun and I’ve loved it. I’m devoted to the library.”

The annual Friends of the Guilford Free Library Book Sale will be held Friday, Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 23 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 24 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. To learn more about the sale or to volunteer for the event or with the Friends of the Guilford Free Library, visit www.guilfordfreelibrary.org or call the library at 203-453-8282.