On Saturday, April 28, 2018, people celebrated Independent Bookstore Day around the country. The Pacific Northwest was chock-full of bookish delight!
We love this recap of Independent Bookstore Day/ Seattle Bookstore Day from adventurers/bloggers Emily and Aaron of Two Dusty Travelers:
“twodustytravelers 12 hours. 2 ferries. 123 miles. 19 independent bookstores. 2 @seabookstoreday Grand Champions!!
🎉🏆
We bought some awesome new books at @eagleharborbooks , got temporary literary tats at @island.books , met a mayor at @libertybaybooks , were sorted into our houses at @thirdplacebooks , petted a giant Newfoundland wearing a tie at @qabookco , and posed for a lot of ridiculous photographs. We made it to all 19 bookshops and won 25% off them all for a year as a reward for our nerd marathon. But most importantly, we supported the awesome local independent bookstores that make our city so damn great.
📚📚
If you’re ever in Seattle during the last weekend in April, I highly recommend participating! Even if you’re not, lots of cities celebrate @indiebookstoreday so check out what yours is up to! And not to worry if you missed it today – it’s cool to show your local indie bookshops some love just any old day of the year ❤”
Some booklovers teamed up to travel together to visit all 19 stores on Saturday. One particularly exuberant group was the party from Seattle Arts & Lectures, who traveled by van.
Staff from Shelf Awareness, the free and fun book newsletter, also did the circuit together.
(After all that adventure, the Shelf Awareness crew still managed to get a great write-up of national events from Independent Bookstore Day posted on Monday morning!)
Terry Tazioli of University Book Store in Seattle (on behalf of the Seattle Independent Bookstore Day [SIBD] steering committee) had big thanks for those who helped spread the word:
… Anecdotally, we had the biggest and wildest SIBD ever. Great fun. Should have some numbers for you in a day or two. All of the stores are still counting. Good, ol’ Seattle-area booklovers were everywhere. In the rain!
Brian Juenemann, editor for nwbooklovers.org and Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, paid a visit to the Duck Store in Eugene and sent us the resulting photos…
Meanwhile, back at the University Book Store in Seattle, bookseller and The Doodler Brad Craft got the cover treatment at the photo booth in another favorite picture from the day:
Every year, I look forward to seeing this indomitable pair of repeat champions:
Catherine Bull (pictured above right in photo taken at Elliott Bay) and her mom (left) have completed the Seattle Champion Challenge every year, and Catherine blogs about it. The two are as delightful in person as you’d expect from Catherine’s charming write-ups. When they came by Queen Anne Book Company, I told them both how much I love them!
Looking back on
#SEABookstoreDay, my friend@GageSarah summed it up best: “How lovely to have a day when all that matters are books, bookstores, friends and snacks.” Many thanks to the 19 beautiful bookstores we visited; see you all next year!
For past years’ Independent Bookstore Day festivities, visit our archives: here, here, here, and here. Please share your Independent Bookstore Day anecdotes, links, purchases, and other happiness in our comments section!
Brad gets involved; Brad wins. This looks fun! When can we do it again?