Independent Bookstore Day, celebrated nationwide, is a special occasion for book lovers to visit their local bookstores. Often, a store will offer exclusive items, sales or special events as part of the experience. The tiny state of Connecticut, though, thinks bigger than that — 21 times bigger, to be exact.
That’s because 21 independent bookstores in Connecticut have banded together to create the CT Book Trail. For the past few years, this collective has been marking Independent Bookstore Day with a Passport Challenge, which has shoppers shuttling from store to store across the state all weekend to compete for a variety of prizes.
Meghan Hayden, owner of the River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury and West Hartford, Connecticut, and Chelsea Brennan and Lauren Garafalo of Wildly Enough, a retailer of unique stationary products based in Connecticut, are the event’s current organizers. The passport, designed by Wildly Enough and available in print and download format, allows shoppers to get stamps from bookshops on the Trail. In keeping with the experiential nature of the event, it also has space for notes and a list of recommended eateries nearby. The more stores visited, the greater a participant’s chance to win a share of over $4,000 in prizes, including gift card bundles and bookish goodies.
Hayden says it is possible to visit all 21 stores in one weekend — if you time it right. That’s not only due to Connecticut’s small footprint (you can drive the entire route of the Trail in about 7.5 hours) but also because some of the stores are open earlier or later than usual for the event. But some really take the challenge to the extreme. “Every year there seems to be one or two carloads of book lovers who manage to complete the full challenge in just one day,” says Hayden. “I’m not exactly sure how they do it — maybe there is a designated getaway driver? — but it has been done!”
For those unable to visit all 21 shops during the weekend, there’s still a chance to win the “Slow & Steady” prize by completing the Trail by Labor Day for a chance to win a gift card bundle worth $25 at each of the 21 stores.
A Collaborative Effort of Mutual Support
Stops along the trail include the Hartford area (home to both locations of Hayden’s bookstore), sprawl across the northwest corner to The Curious Cat Bookshop in Winsted, down the western border to the southern panhandle (Athena Books of Old Greenwich), and east along Long Island Sound to the border with Rhode Island (Bank Square Books in Mystic). Along the way are both established booksellers, such as RJ Julia in Madison and Middletown, and relative newcomers, including Possible Futures, a “community bookspace” in New Haven.
“Bookstores love participating in the Connecticut Book Trail because we love working together to celebrate our customers and promote our businesses,” explains Hayden. “Independent booksellers are a wonderful group of people who go out of their way to uplift one another. The passport is an excellent example of this attitude of generosity; it helps stores get discovered.” Independent Bookstore Day is a logical event for the Trail to highlight. “It’s really just a celebration of the loyal customers who keep our community-focused businesses going all year long. Making our readers feel appreciated and loved is our top priority,” says Hayden of Independent Bookstore Day.
But the Trail has ambitions beyond Independent Bookstore Day. “We’re working on ideas for year-round events, and growing the CT Book Trail into a tourism draw like the CT Wine Trail or Beer Trail,” Hayden reveals. “Breweries and vineyards have done a great job of working together and creating programs that help everyone find success.”
Keep an eye on our Instagram for our visits along the Trail this week, and be sure to visit your own local independent bookstore this weekend!
