Each September, book lovers from Shreveport-Bossier and the surrounding communities turn out in droves to dig through tens of thousands of used books at the Centenary College Book Bazaar. The 27th Annual Centenary College Book Bazaar, which will be held, Sept. 6-7, 2013, will feature more than 80,000 books and other items, with prices starting out at just 25 cents. There’s a great Times article about this year’s event here.
As a music lover, one element of this massive sale that I’ve always enjoyed is the vinyl record sale that takes place in tandem with the book sale. The vinyl record sale is held in the lobby of the Gold Dome, upstairs from the basketball court where the book sale takes place. On Friday, the vinyl record sale opens at 1 p.m. (note that the book sale does not open until 4 p.m.) and runs until 9 p.m., with all records priced at $2. On Saturday, the vinyl record sale runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and all records are discounted to $1 apiece. The record sale is cash only.
“We have the records sorted into categories like rock and pop, country, a folk music section, a blues section, international music, holiday music, stage and screen, musicals,” said Chris Brown, volunteer organizer of this year’s vinyl record sale. “But beyond that, it’s just a wild mixture inside the box – they’re not alphabetized or anything like that.”
One of the joys of the vinyl record sale is that “wild mixture,” which makes it possible for vinyl record hunters to experience the joy that comes with “crate digging” – flipping through hundreds of records to find the gem that you’re after.
Brown estimates that there are about 4,000 LPs and 400 45s available for purchase this year.
“One reason that I took this project on is because I grew up coming to this record sale,” Brown said. “For me, it’s been like a passing of the torch.”
RSVP to the Centenary Book Bazaar’s Vinyl Record Sale on Facebook
