Wilmington resident Lisa Sullivan can tell you a story about how 2011’s Tropical Storm Irene sent the Deerfield River into her business, Bartleby’s Books, swallowing up nearly $300,000 in stock and surroundings.
That’s why, a dozen years later, Sullivan’s store is joining other Vermont members of the New England Independent Bookstore Association for a fundraiser Saturday.
People who shop at one of 17 businesses during the “Bookstores Helping Bookstores” event will see 20% of proceeds directed toward rebuilding efforts at the recently flooded Bear Pond Books in Montpelier and Next Chapter Bookstore in Barre.
“We know how hard it is to get back up and running after a flood,” Bartleby’s has posted on its Facebook page. “Every little bit helps.”
Stores participating in the July 29 fundraiser include:
Bellows Falls: Village Square Booksellers
Bennington: Bennington Bookshop
Brandon: The Bookstore
Brattleboro: Everyone’s Books
Burlington: Phoenix Books
Essex: Phoenix Books
Ludlow: The Book Nook
Middlebury: Vermont Book Shop
Norwich: Norwich Bookstore
Rutland: Phoenix Books
Shelburne: Flying Pig Bookstore
St. Albans: Eloquent Page
Stowe: Bear Pond Books
Waterbury: Bridgeside Books
Wilmington: Bartleby’s Books
Woodstock: Yankee Bookshop
In addition, Rootstock Publishing of Montpelier will donate sales from books purchased on its website until Aug. 18.
“When the flood hit, we knew we had to do something to help our neighboring bookstores,” Becky Dayton of Middlebury’s Vermont Book Shop said in a New England association statement. “Members truly value the importance of keeping our local stores alive.”
