Book lovers unite! This Saturday, April 27, is Independent Bookstore Day and a bunch of local small bookshops have banded together with a fun way to celebrate.
Fifteen area indie bookstores have created a special passport program to celebrate locally-owned stores and a love of books and reading.
Customers who visit any one of these shops on Saturday will be able to pick up their own bookshop passport. Then, over the next month, they are invited to visit as many of the participating bookshops as they would like. They can collect at stamp in the passport at each stop.
Once they have visited four stores, they can collect a book prize. Those who visit eight stores earn a tote bag. And super fans who visit at least 10 of the participating stores by May 31st can enter to win the grand prize.
The participating stores in the area for the 2024 Indie Bookstore Day Passport program are:
- Bards Alley, 110 Church Street NW, Vienna Va.
- Birch Tree Bookstore, 11 West Market Street, Leesburg Va.
- Curious Iguana 12 North Market Street, Frederick Md.
- Fonts Books & Gifts, 6262 Old Dominion Drive, McLean Va.
- Hundred Acre Books – 172 E Davis Street, Culpeper Va.
- HOORAY for Books!, 1555 King Street, Alexandria Va.
- Middleburg Books, 17 South Madison Street, Middleburg Va.
- Old Town Books, 130 South Royal Street, Alexandria Va.
- One More Page Books, 2200 N Westmoreland Street, Arlington, VA
- The Open Book Warrenton, 104 Main Street, Warrenton Va.
- Scrawl Books, 11911 Freedom Drive, Reston Va.
- Spelled Ink llc, 132 W Main Street, Orange Va.
- A Thousand Stories, 750 Center Street, Herndon Va.
- Winchester Book Gallery, 7 North Loudoun Street, Winchester Va.
- WordPlay, 50 W Main Street, Wardensville WV
Indie Bookstore Day was established in 2013 to celebrate independent bookstores. The day has been observed on the last Saturday of April every year since. There are more than 900 stores participating across the country this year.
(Image at top: Birch Tree Bookstore, Leesburg)