Book Shop Crawl involves local store

Meghan Desjardins (left) and Cindy Lemieux from the River Bookshop were part of the Book Store Crawl that took place last weekend. The Amherstburg store joined other independent book stores for the crawl.

Canadian Independent Book Store Day was April 25 and that meant open doors and lots of visitors to the regions bookstores.

To celebrate, Amherstburg’s River Bookshop took part in the first ever Book Store Crawl that started Friday and wrapped up last Sunday.

“A few of the stores have been talking about it for a while. We thought it would be cool to do it here in Windsor-Essex,” said River Bookshop lead bookseller Meghan Desjardins.

There were a total of six independents which took part including Belle River’s The Book Nook along with Windsor outlets – Whiskey Jack’s Boutique, Biblioasis, Juniper Book, and Storytellers.

“A lot of people believe that independent bookstores can bring something to the table,” said Desjardins.

In the case of River Bookshop, which opened its doors in 2020, that means holding special events like Children’s Story Time and inviting local authors to sign and sell their latest works. This past Sunday, Marty Gervais was on hand to read from his latest book of poetry – The Shape of Disappearing Letters.

Fellow poets John B. Lee and Katheryn MacDonald were also part of Tea & Poetry in which they signed and sold their recent work.

“We make a point of having something for everyone,” said Desjardins.

The shelves at River Bookshop contain a wide variety of genres from mystery and children’s books to adult fiction and non-fiction.

Desjardins said a new reader favourite is “Romantacy,” which combines fantasy with romance.

Over the three-day Book Shop Crawl, she suspected over 100 readers came in and as part of the event, anyone who purchased a book at each of the six stops, were entered into a draw. One Gold Ticket winner received a year’s worth of audio books which are very in demand.

“We had way more than what we had hoped for. It was very successful,” said Desjardins.

Book Shop Crawl involves local store

By Fred Groves