Passport Challenge Boosts Indie Bookstore Day in Connecticut

Celebrated nationwide, Independent Bookstore Day is a special opportunity for book lovers to visit their local bookstores. Often a store will offer exclusive items, sales or special events as part of the experience. However, the small state of Connecticut 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. In recent years, this collective has celebrated Independent Bookstore Day with a Passport Challenge, where shoppers commute from store to store throughout the weekend across the state 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 current organizers of the event. The passport, designed by Wildly Enough and available in print and download formats, allows shoppers to get stamps from bookstores on the Trail. In keeping with the experiential nature of the event, there is also room for notes and a list of recommended places to eat nearby. The more stores visited, the better a participant’s chance to win a share of more than $4,000 in prizes, including gift card bundles and bookish goodies.

Hayden says it’s possible to visit all 21 stores in one weekend – if you time it right. That’s not only because of Connecticut’s small footprint (you can drive the entire route of the Trail in about 7.5 hours), but also because some stores are open earlier or later than normal for the event. But some really go to extremes. “Every year there seems to be one or two carloads of book lovers who manage to complete the entire challenge in just one day,” says Hayden. ‘I don’t know exactly how they do it; maybe there is a designated getaway driver? – but it happened!”

For those who can’t visit all 21 stores this weekend, there is still a chance to win the “Slow & Steady” prize by completing the Trail by Labor Day for a chance to win a $25 gift card bundle at each of the 21 stores.

Stops along the trail include the Hartford area (home to both Hayden’s bookstore locations), stretching across the northwest corner to The Curious Cat Bookshop in Winsted, along the western border to the southern panhandle (Athena Books of Old Greenwich), and east along Long Island Sound to the Rhode Island border (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 book space” in New Haven.

“Bookstores enjoy participating in the Connecticut Book Trail because we enjoy working together to highlight our customers and promote our businesses,” Hayden explains. “The CT Book Trail ensures that shops are discovered.” Independent Bookstore Day is a logical event that the Trail wants to draw attention to. “It’s really just a tribute to the loyal customers who keep our community-oriented businesses running year-round. Making sure our readers feel valued and loved is our top priority,” says Hayden of Independent Bookstore Day.

But the Trail has ambitions that go beyond Independent Bookstore Day. “We are working on ideas for year-round events and growing the CT Book Trail into a tourist attraction like the CT Wine Trail or Beer Trail,” Hayden reveals. “Breweries and vineyards have done a great job of working together to create 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!