One of the most beloved and well-attended community events in White Rock and South Surrey 鈥� the White Rock Rotary Book Sale 鈥� returns to the Peace Arch Curling Club building at Centennial Park on Friday, Aug. 22.
Some 40,000 books of all kinds are on sale for five days until Tuesday 鈥� with, in keeping with tradition, bargain prices that get smaller as each day goes by.
Book lovers will have to make the best of the event, however 鈥� this may be the last ever edition of the popular sale.
That's the warning issued by the White Rock Rotary Club, for which the book sale, a 42-year tradition, is the main fundraiser for many projects benefiting numerous organizations in the community.
A critical element of the book sale is having warehouse space to sort and store book donations at the Rotary Fieldhouse at South Surrey Athletic Park.
But the City of Surrey, which seeks a new operator for the facility, has given notice to the Surrey Fieldhouse Society and Rotary clubs that they must vacate the building by the end of September, directly threatening continuation of the twice-annual sales, club members warn.
Petitions will be circulated among patrons of the upcoming sale, and online at asking that the city "offer the South Surrey Fieldhouse Society a new lease on the building that respects the historical contribution of the Rotary clubs and allows all current warehouse users to equitably share the Fieldhouse."
In an advertisement in this edition of Peace Arch News, Rotarians are also encouraging residents to call or email Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke to ask her to overturn Surrey's decision.
Book sale chair Keith Becker said it's not just a matter of finding other storage space.
"We need a place to sort the books and we also have drop offs of donations 24/7 at the Fieldhouse 鈥� I don't know any other locations, certainly not commercial storage units, that could accommodate that."
For more than 25 years book storage and sorting has been readily available to the club, as raising the more than $1 million necessary to build the facility was spearheaded by White Rock Rotary, under the leadership of then-president Wayne Baldwin, in partnership with other Rotary clubs, acting on a request originally made by the City of Surrey.
From its opening in 1999, the facility has been managed and operated by the South Surrey Fieldhouse Society, which is independent of the Rotary clubs, although the majority of its members are Rotarians.
But since the expiry of the society's 25-year lease on the building at the end of last year, the future of the book sale, and other Rotary activities at the Fieldhouse, have been up in the air, as the society has only been able to arrange a month-to month lease with the city.
City of Surrey Parks Recreation and Culture officials have made clear their intention to secure a new operator for the building, as of the end of 2025, and has signalled a preference for Coastal FC, which has contended it urgently needs the majority of Fieldhouse space to serve the equipment storage needs of some 4,000 soccer players.
Coastal FC executive director Chris Murphy said it's his understanding the city offered the Fieldhouse Society an agreement for a short-term lease from Oct. 1 until Dec. 31.
"For whatever reason, the society couldn't or wouldn't sign that and so the same agreement was offered to us and we have signed it," he said, adding that he expects the city to issue a request for proposals for an operator in 2026 in an "open process" in which both Coastal and the Fieldhouse Society would be able to submit proposals.
He said the society "surprisingly" voted down an earlier agreement to share space between Coastal and Rotarians, and noted that, from his perspective, the dispute is only over storage space.
"The rest is meeting space and it would be our intention to make that available to all groups that use the facility," he said.
But White Rock Rotary past president Anthony Manning said that from the club's perspective, past attempts to reach some kind of compromise with the city that recognizes the needs of both Rotarians and the Coastal FC have been fruitless, and hampered by lack of communication from the city.
"We're a volunteer-led organization and we support charities designed to protect the most vulnerable in our society, including seniors and children," he said.
"This sale is our bread and butter."
The Fieldhouse's Rotary contingent, including members from the Semiahmoo, South Surrey and White Rock clubs, have been working with both Coastal FC and the City of Surrey for over a year, Manning added.
"The former has been unclear on its actual needs and the latter has not adequately addressed Rotary's concerns 鈥� specifically, the scope of managing the facility and apportioning of storage space in the warehouse."
Manning noted that Rotarians have offered to fundraise for a new and larger facility for Coastal FC, and reallocating space in the existing building so Coastal has more room. Both offers have been declined, he said.
Manning said that Rotary members of the Fieldhouse Society are contemplating a concerted campaign to raise public awareness of the issue.
But, given the impending date of the book sale and its crucial role White Rock Rotary's fundraising efforts, he said, "we can't afford to wait any longer."
