Communities Ready for “Find Waldo Local”

With the arrival of July, people in cities and towns across the country will head out on scavenger hunts to find Waldo during a month-long series of events spearheaded by their local independent booksellers. The stores are all participants in “Find Waldo Local,” a campaign sponsored by Candlewick Press and the American Booksellers Association that aims to spur local shopping while celebrating Waldo’s 25^th anniversary.

For the promotion, announced by Candlewick in January, bookstores were asked to partner with 19 other independent businesses in their communities to widen the scavenger hunt and energize local establishments. The finishing touches are now being put on celebrations, and businesses are busy spreading the word throughout their communities.

Candlewick has provided booksellers with a free kit containing materials to help promote the scavenger hunt, including a 40-inch Waldo standee, 20 mini Waldo standees, 20 Shop Local window clings, 220 “I Found Waldo” cards, and bag stuffers. Free prizes have also been provided, including 100 “I Found Waldo” buttons, five copies of Where’s Waldo? The Phenomenal Postcard Book, and one copy of Where’s Waldo? The Complete Collection box set.

Using social media, including Facebook and Twitter, and at venues ranging from gas stations to beaches, indie booksellers have taken up the challenge of Find Waldo Local. Here and in upcoming issues, Bookselling This Week will highlight some of the unique ways booksellers and their indie business partners are celebrating.

Cornerstone Cottage in Hampton, Iowa, is “doing so much with our Find Waldo Local campaign, it will blow you away,” said the store manager Keri Rojas. To promote its plans, Cornerstone is relying heavily on social media as well as the local radio station. The bookstore has posted teasers on its website and both of its Facebook pages — The Cornerstone Cottage and Cornerstone Cottage Kids — and the local radio station is airing variations of the teasers throughout June.

In July, each participating business will be featured in 36 30-second ads on the radio. “They will all be tagged with something like, ‘Don’t forget, you can stop by Cornerstone Cottage any day this month to find Waldo,’” Rojas said. In addition, each of the 20 businesses will host a three-hour live radio broadcast sometime during the month of July. The 40" Waldo standee will travel to each business for the day, and listeners will be invited to stop by, find Waldo, and register for a giveaway: a pair of tickets to a local amusement park.

Leading up to the event, the Cornerstone Cottage blog has been featuring short videos of a 12-year-old reporter (Rojas’ grandson) breaking the latest Waldo news from each participating business. The store’s plans have also garnered coverage in the local newspaper, the Globe Gazette.

Both the local Bed and Breakfast, which is a participating in the event, and a local motel are running “packages” for families who might need to drive in and spend the night. “We are the only central Iowa location, so I think we might generate some overnight business too,” said Rojas.

To spread the word further and drum up excitement, Rojas has applied for a tourism grant to defray the cost of running a quarter-page ad of a map and list of participating businesses in the local paper. Each business is also promoting Find Waldo Local through bag stuffers and posters.

“This is the freshest idea we’ve worked with in a long time,” said Rojas. “I already have people talking about ‘next year.’”

McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan, has doubled its community participation by enlisting 40 local businesses to join in the Find Waldo Local scavenger hunt. The bookstore has hired a “Waldo” to make appearances all around Northern Michigan — at the 4^th of July Parade, Fireworks, and Downtown Friday Night Festivals. Waldo will also be seen at various grocery stores, gas stations, and beaches in the area. People spotting Waldo will be encouraged to post to Facebook and tag McLean and Eakin, so it creates buzz on the store Facebook page. Those finding Waldo out on the town will be given a button and more information about the concluding Find Waldo Local celebration.

On July 28, McLean and Eakin will close the festivities with a Where’s Waldo Costume Contest. Prizes will be awarded, including the Candlewick Waldo standee, Waldo books, and more.

In Missoula, Montana, Fact & Fiction will be working with 20 “family-friendly, fun-seeking businesses,” said Barbara Theroux, the store’s founder. “Downtown Missoula seems to have embraced the idea, and I look forward to sharing the fun.”

Fact & Fiction has hired a “Waldo” and his female-counterpart, “Wenda,” both of whom will be available for appearances at various community events. They’ll also be popping in and out of the Saturday's Farmers Markets. Participating businesses will feature the Find Waldo Local logo on their websites, and Fact & Fiction will be posting sightings on the store’s Facebook page.

At Battenkill Books in Cambridge, New York, owner Connie Brooks has enlisted a local youth group, Cambridge Connects, to help promote Find Waldo Local. “This gives us a host of volunteers to get the word out, a group of already invested parents, and an instant ‘in’ with the school,” Brooks said.

Events on the schedule include a Waldo party, featuring pizza from a local pizzeria participating in the campaign, cupcakes from the new cupcakery in a neighboring town, and an appearance from a “flesh-and-blood Waldo,” which is to say “a tall, lanky dad in a Waldo costume,” Brooks explained. Battenkill also has plans for a Waldo/Wenda look-alike contest.

Watch for more on bookstores’ plans for Find Waldo Local in next week’s edition.