POSTED IN THIS ISSUE
Issue #2 · Friday, September 18, 2026
If you like books, today is a good day.
The Friends of the Chatham Community Library have more than 18,000 books and media items for sale, and today everything is half price.
Meanwhile, the 76th Chatham County Fair is underway, fiddlers have taken over Shakori Hills, Finally Fridays returns downtown tonight, and The Plant is turning into an outdoor sculpture gallery tomorrow.
Apparently Chatham County didn’t believe in pacing itself this weekend.
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FEATURE STORY
18,000 Books, and They’re Doing More Than Clearing Shelves
Walk into the Holmes Family Meeting Room at Chatham Community Library this weekend and you’re going to find books.
A lot of books.
More than 18,000 items, according to the Friends of the Chatham Community Library: hardbacks, paperbacks, children’s books, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, vinyl and a few unusually specific collections, including books on trains, quilting and rock climbing.
But the better story may be what happens after somebody buys them.
The Friends of the Chatham Community Library is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit that raises money to supplement the library’s public budget.
Sale proceeds help the library purchase new books, materials, and equipment, secure new children’s programs, and improve technology and services.
Which means the annual book sale is basically a giant recycling loop for community knowledge:
Someone donates a book. Someone else buys it. And the money goes back into the library.
Not bad.
And if you’re reading this Friday morning, your timing is excellent.
Today is half-price day.
The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at Chatham Community Library, 197 NC Highway 87 N.
Saturday is the grand finale: from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., shoppers can fill a provided grocery bag for $5.
Admission is free.
There are worse ways to spend twenty bucks.
You could also leave with considerably more than twenty bucks’ worth of books.
Happy reading!
We want to thank Meri Lynch Realty for sponsoring this issue!
CHATHAM IS BUSY THIS WEEKEND
🎡 THE 76TH CHATHAM COUNTY FAIR
The Chatham County Agricultural & Industrial Fair runs through Sunday at the Chatham County Fairgrounds in Pittsboro.
Tonight, gates open at 4 p.m., with the midway running until 10.
Line dancing runs from 4–6 p.m., followed by Pat & The Soul Bros Band from 6:30–9:30 p.m.
Livestock, agricultural exhibits, competitions, rides, concessions, and fair food are all part of the four-day event.
🎻 HOPPIN’ JOHN FIDDLERS’ CONVENTION
When: Through Saturday
Where: Shakori Hills, 1439 Henderson Tanyard Road
Traditional music, contests, dancing, workshops, a cook-off, kids’ activities and camping.
This one isn’t a sit-back-and-watch festival.
Hoppin’ John actively encourages people to get involved.
🎨 FINALLY FRIDAYS: TONIGHT
Where: Downtown Pittsboro
When: 5:00–8:00 p.m.
Cost: FREE
Downtown stays open late tonight for Pittsboro Finally Fridays Arts Walk, with artists, makers, music, shops and restaurants participating throughout downtown.
And yes: there’s an ice cream eating contest.
Do with that information what you will.
🗿 PITTSBORO SCULPTURE CELEBRATION: SATURDAY
Where: The Plant
When: Noon–6:00 p.m.
The second annual Pittsboro Sculpture Celebration opens its weekend festivities Saturday, turning The Plant’s 17-acre campus into an outdoor gallery featuring regional artists, food and live music.
Last year’s inaugural event generated $35,000 in sculpture sales; organizers say this year’s goal is to double that.
The exhibition itself remains up through January 10.
“The Spirit of the River” turns discarded materials into a striking environmental sculpture, reflecting the kind of creative work that makes Chatham’s arts scene worth exploring. Photo credit: TeeTee Fx
🎶 ALSO AROUND CHATHAM
The Siler City Downtown Music Series runs Friday evening from 6–9 p.m., and MOSAIC’s Blast from the Past Music Series starts at 7 p.m. in Chatham Park.
AROUND TOWN
Pittsboro’s Board of Commissioners had a full growth-and-downtown agenda Monday, including the proposed Downtown Overlay District changes, a Downtown Master Plan and parking study, economic-development planning, and continued work on a new Town Hall project estimated at roughly $12.6 million.
That growth conversation is not going away.
And as Pittsboro changes, one of the things worth watching is the tension, and hopefully the balance, between building what the town needs next and preserving what made people care about the place in the first place.
We’ll keep watching it.
THE POST SCRIPT
A county fair.
A fiddlers’ convention.
An arts walk.
Eighteen thousand used books.
A field full of sculpture.
Sometimes covering local news means zoning maps and budget amendments.
And sometimes the news is simply:
Go outside. Chatham is doing stuff.
See y’all next Friday,
Elana
The Pittsboro Post is supported by anchor sponsor Meri Lynch of Coldwell Banker HPW.
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