Click to enlarge photos.

MARIETTA - The Cobb Family Fun Fest once again combined this year with the annual Cobb County Make-A-Wish 5K for an all around good time for those who participated at the Marietta Square on Saturday.

Many who attended the family festival enjoyed games, arts and crafts, inflatable carnival rides and live music. Government departments, including fire and police, conducted interactive presentations. Cobb County and the city of Marietta co-sponsored the event.

The Make-A-Wish 5K kicked off the day with a run that began and ended at the Square. Proceeds from the race benefit the Marietta-based Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama, to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Since beginning in 2001, the race has raised more than $180,000.

Across town, the Friends of Cobb County Public Library System conducted their semi-annual book sale yesterday afternoon at Jim R. Miller Park. The prior sale this year was conducted in March.

Proceeds from the three-day sale, which began Friday and continues from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. today, are used to purchase new books and other library materials.

"We have a whole lot of books that are donated that we don't have (use) for at the library," said Patricia Latch, Cobb Public Library System program coordinator.

"A lot of them are either out-of-date or we just have a lot of those titles; there's any number of reasons we can't make use of them in the library. We need something to do with them, and it gives us money that goes directly back into buying new materials for the library."

The more than 100,000 items for sale include books, both hardbound and paperback, for children, young adults and adults; audio-visuals; compact discs; videocassettes; records; magazines and comic books.

For more information about the book sale, visit the Cobb Public Library System's Web site at cobbcat.org/book_sale_info.htm.

mhoward@mdjonline.com

Comment on this Story

Type your comment here...comments are reviewed before they are posted, and therefore they do not post immediately.

Please enter the validation words. If you cannot read them, you may obtain a fresh set of words by hitting the button.