Bring on the Nostalgia! An Adult Book Fair is Coming to Owensboro

Picture it, you're sitting in class and the teacher hands out the Scholastic Book Fair catalog. Right on the front page, you circle the newest edition of the Goosebumps series for your collection. As you flip through, you see The Babysitters' Club, The Boxcar Children, Matilda, and a whole page of super sweet Lamborghini and peace sign posters.

On the back, you see just what you'll spend your allowance on...a diary covered in kittens that closes with a padlock. The perfect place to keep your deepest darkest secrets safe until you lose the key. Ahhh man, those were the days!

While, we can't really go back in time and re-live those exact moments of joy, there are some Owensboro folks who are planning an Adult Book Fair for anyone who wants a good ole dose of nostalgia or to find something new and fun to read. Even if you just want to come and hang with friends, it's gonna be a great time.

Sunday July 21st from 12PM to 6PM, Brew Bridge at 800 W. 2nd Street in downtown Owensboro is gonna be filled with grown-up book lovers. The Tiki Bar will be open on the patio with special book-themed cocktails, boozy slushies, and a brand new menu of delicious food. You can also enjoy your favorite Brew Bridge beers, of course. Kahawa Java coffee shop will have their delicious drinks for anyone who prefers to caffeinate.

It wouldn't be a book fair without awesome books and fun trinkets to shop. We have Displaced Pages, Owensboro's newest book shop to thank for planning this event and proprietor Virginia Hardesty shared with me a sneak peek of the goodies she'll have to offer, "I'll have a wide variety of books geared towards adults and definitely some nostalgic items, but many items that are more for who we are now and the hobbies we might have grown to love. I'll have books ranging from fantasy, romance, cooking, beer brewing, wine knowledge, plants, etc. I'll have something for everyone."

The Moneytree bringing some records and books, Your Brothers Bookstore from Evansville is bringing a good haul, "We will also have the DCPL there, who we love so so much, and they deserve all the support and Prism Arts Alliance... just the absolute best people."

Virginia is also the administrator of Owensboro's Silent Book Club. They meet regularly and often at Brew Bridge, so they were the perfect partners for the Adult Book Fair. She told me her inspiration for this event came from conversations with the reading community.   "We would talk about the scholastic book fair and how we need one, but ya know, with cocktails and wine now. And we would laugh and kinda move on, but I thought...well, why don't we do that?"

"I definitely want to make book events a more common thing," Virginia said, "Books and reading are SO important for any community. Especially now. It's a freedom we have that we often take for granted. And I'm happy to see a book Renaissance of sorts happening across the nation. I would say the goal is to encourage adults to make reading a priority in their lives again and to support libraries, and book stores, who fight for freedom of literature."

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