Doing Indie Bookstore Day Your Way

With Seattle Independent Bookstore Day and the South Sound Book Crawl both starting April 26, it’s a great time to go explore some bookstores. 

See NWT’s list of Seattle Indie Bookstore Day events here. 

Tomorrow is the big annual nationwide celebration of local bookstores, Independent Bookstore Day. Long celebrated by Seattle-area diehards in a frantic race of trying to visit a bunch of stores in a single day, the “passport challenge” component is now spread over a much more manageable 10-day bookstore crawl, through May 5. (Of course, the big parties and events still tend to be limited to that single day.) Tacoma, Olympia, and south Kitsap stores join the mix now too, with the third-annual South Sound Book Crawl held similarly over a nine-day stroll (through May 4). 

In its past one-day form, Seattle Indie Bookstore Day was never something I was going to do. Take little book-centric havens and add crowds and frantic paces? Sounds like a great way to ruin a good thing. A 10-day wander, meanwhile, sounds like a great excuse to check out places I’ve wanted to go anyway. 

If you’re new to the challenge, like me, here are a few different approaches to consider.

Get the full experience 

No doubt there are purists who still say pack it all into one day. If that’s your take, more power to you. 

A lighter option is to make the most of the day-of festivities by choosing your April 26 stores based on their scheduled events. Whether that’s the author appearances, the plenitude of giveaways, the most original gimmicks, or the most likely to have tasty treats, head to the stores who are going all-out on Saturday. 

I’ve always wanted to go there … 

If there are a couple of stores you’ve been meaning to get to, Indie Bookstore Day might be a good time. (Just remember, they’re likely to be a lot busier than usual — which could be a bug or a feature, depending on your style.) Use this time to cross those personal must-sees off your list, or choose one and then head to a cluster of others nearest-by. 

Slow and steady 

This is my planned approach. I have stuff to do on Saturday, and it happens to take me near some stores that are furthest from the clusters — so I’ll start with those, and perhaps catch some early/late author events at others.

After that, it’s a matter of convenience and numbers. Free parking only on Sundays? Some stores open later than others? Heading for the suburbs or across the water that day? Keep your bookstore list handy and visit a few on your way. 

Head south too  

This works as well for the south-end crawl as it does for the north. If you’re spending time in Tacoma or Olympia this week, make sure to stop by the fine stores there and over the Narrows. (One store, Ballast Books in Bremerton, appears on both crawls.) I’ve only been to a couple of the South Sound stores before; let’s see about changing that this week.  

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And whatever your chosen approach, enjoy the journey and keep the spirit of Indie Bookstore Day in mind — supporting small bookstores, rediscovering a love of reading if you’ve lost it, and finding new favorites. Any excuse to do those is a day well spent.

Find more info on Indie Bookstore Day’s various sites here: Seattle Independent Bookstore Day; South Sound Book Crawl; national Independent Bookstore Day. 

Chase D. Anderson is Editor & Producer of NWTheatre.org.